Microsoft reacts to SquareTrade’s Xbox 360 16.4 percent failure rate

Reading about the reported 16.4 failure rate of Microsoft‘s not something that could shock us anymore, but Microsoft somewhat dismissed warranty provider SquareTrade’s failure rate report about the three major console’s reported failure rates. It’s still a nice change from the infamous 33 percent failure rate, however. Read Microsoft’s comment in response to SquareTrade’s report in the full article.

Remember that recent failure rate report filed by independent warranty provider SquareTrade? Microsoft finally responded to the claim that the Xbox 360 had a failure rate of 16.4% – the highest among the three major consoles – and rebutted that the statement by SquareTrade is questionable at best. Here’s what Microsoft spokesman Joe DiMiero had to say:

Microsoft does not comment on hardware failure rates, nor do we comment on speculation…We have not seen the report, and are unfamiliar with the agency that filed it. Based on the enthusiast community’s feedback yesterday, the methodology of this report is suspect.

Microsoft had good reason to point out SquareTrade’s reliability, since the warranty firm did not furnish the complete report. It wasn’t even able to give the sample size of the study upfront, though it was later mentioned that it was based on a 1,000 sample size. SquareTrade also elaborated that of the 16.4% failure rate, more than a half were accounted for the infamous Red Ring of Death problems.