Microsoft's Xbox 360: seeing red
Rings of Red
Microsoft needs to act now on hardware failures - or risk losing
consumer support.
With all the accolades presently being paid to Nintendo for the
astonishing success of the DS and the Wii, it's understandable that
Microsoft occasionally seems a bit put out by the whole situation.
After all, the Xbox 360 sailed through the seemingly ambitious 10
million unit goal which was set for its first year or so on the market,
and is outdoing Sony's PS3 in most markets - a situation which few
would have dared to predict only a few years ago.
Given the circumstances, it's not hard to see why some more
ill-advised comments from Microsoft executives regarding the Wii have
seemed... Well, a touch bitter. Right now, Microsoft must feel like the
kid who stayed up all night learning all the best combos in Street
Fighter, only to arrive in school the next day and discover that
everyone else in the class has decided to play marbles instead.
Nintendo's resurgence, however, doesn't really detract from
Microsoft's success in real terms. Right now, the Xbox 360 is winning
the battle which it set out to win - namely, the battle with Sony's PS3
- and is showing no sign of relinquishing its dominance of the "real"
next-gen market.
I have always argued that this fight was Sony's to lose, and that
remains the case; what's happened here is that Sony has slipped up
badly enough, and fallen hard enough, to give Microsoft a clear shot at
goal. The problematic PR, delayed launch and presently weak software
line-up for PS3 are all fairly major concerns; the enormous price
point, however, is the most serious issue.
Prior to launch, plenty of people questioned whether the market would
support that pricing level - Blu-ray drive or not. The answer has
returned, loud and clear; no, the market will not support this price
point. Every day that Sony leaves the PS3 on the shelves with this
unattractive price tag attached gives its rivals more of a head start.
With flawless execution, Microsoft could sail into the space which is
being left by Sony's failures and build an Xbox 360 market share which
would be practically unassailable. In some regards, that's exactly what
it has done. Nobody can downplay the company's astonishing achievements
with regard to software; the Xbox 360 has a compelling line-up of
software on shelves, and an even more compelling line-up of exclusive
titles in the pipeline.
Games like Halo 3, Bioshock and Mass Effect make Xbox 360 owners feel
good about their purchase, and provide compelling reasons for Xbox and
PlayStation 2 owners to upgrade. Indeed, in the top ten Most Wanted
games chart compiled from user data on GamesIndustry.biz's sister site,
Eurogamer.net, seven of the top ten titles are Xbox 360 games. Two Wii
titles (Super Mario Galaxy and Super Paper Mario) make it into the
ranking; only one PS3 title, Metal Gear Solid 4, appears.
It's obvious, then, that Microsoft is doing more than just making
headway with the hardcore audience. Frankly, that battle is all but
won, and the onus is now on Sony to demonstrate that it is capable of
creating an offering for hardcore gamers that is as attractive as the
one Microsoft has crafted.
The obvious criticism - which is no less true for being so obvious -
is that there's precious little evidence of Microsoft's software
line-up managing to break out of that hardcore market. The company
still lacks not only the kind of Singstar, Eye Toy and Buzz titles
which drive casual market adoption, but also the Final Fantasies and
Tekkens which appeal to the vast mass of "average" gamers who lie
outside the hardcore market Xbox 360 has so far exploited.
This is, at least, a well-understood problem, and one which is widely
commented upon. It has, of course, done nothing to slow down
Microsoft's race to ten million; but it may make the next ten million a
lot harder to sell, and the following ten million almost impossible, if
the issue is not addressed.
However, there is another problem which Microsoft faces at the moment
- one which the company has shown even less sign of understanding, or
addressing. It is the problem of hardware reliability and customer
service, an area in which the Xbox 360 has a track record that is
nothing short of utterly appalling - and an area which Microsoft
absolutely must address, or risk handing the goodwill of the market
back to its rivals.
Of course, this too is not a new problem. Microsoft has been slammed
over the failure rate of Xbox 360 consoles, and its own poor customer
service in dealing with that matter, many times before - British
readers will undoubtedly recall that the firm was hauled over the coals
on the Watchdog programme here only a few months ago.
This problem hasn't gone away; in fact, from a consumer point of view,
Microsoft appears to have done precisely nothing to address it. While
the attention of the media may have turned to scrutiny of Sony's
failings, the vast numbers of Xbox 360 owners who have been let down
first by Microsoft's shoddy manufacturing, and subsequently by the
company's arrogant and unfair policies with regard to customer service,
have increased. Their voices are contributing to a groundswell of
unrest and negative buzz which will hurt Microsoft very badly indeed if
it is not addressed.
The problem is clear. A large number of Xbox 360 consoles from launch
onwards have shipped with manufacturing problems which have manifested
themselves in the dreaded "three red lights" - an error code displayed
on the front panel which means that the console has died, and needs to
be returned to Microsoft for service.
The number of systems which shipped with these problems is a matter of
some debate, but it's clear that it is a far, far higher proportion
than the company originally admitted. Early claims suggested that Xbox
360 consoles were only failing as often as you would expect from any
piece of consumer hardware - a figure generally agreed to be around 3
per cent. However, entire batches of consoles at launch were failing en
masse - and the reliability, although it improved, continued to be poor
for months afterwards.
Has this been fixed? Who can say - Microsoft has certainly made no
promises regarding enhanced reliability for the Xbox 360 Elite console,
so it's simply impossible to judge whether new machines rolling off the
production line will be any better than their predecessors. Even giving
the benefit of the doubt, that still means that millions of machines
from the "unreliable" period of the console's manufacturing are sitting
under televisions around the world.
This, however, is only half of the problem. For a new piece of
consumer hardware to display a high failure rate is damaging, but not
seriously so, as long as the company has a good system in place to
ensure that customers' systems are being repaired, and goodwill is
being maintained.
Unfortunately, Microsoft has made two massive blunders in this regard.
Firstly, it has taken to shipping refurbished systems to customers
whose consoles have died - not a huge problem in itself, but the
reliability of these refurbished machines is also vastly suspect, which
results in anecdotal cases where gamers have returned their consoles to
Microsoft three or even four times, with each subsequent console
suffering the same fault after a few months. These cases make
compelling "horror stories" for consumers, and have been widely
disseminated.
Secondly, despite its shameful appearance on Watchdog, and being
lambasted by the press over its behaviour, Microsoft continues to
insist that British consumers whose consoles have failed after its 12
month warranty period must pay GBP 85 (around 125 Euro) to have the
system repaired. Its customer service representatives are adamant on
this point, refusing to budge even when it is pointed out that these
manufacturing flaws are clearly Microsoft's responsibility under
consumer law, regardless of the terms of the firm's own warranty.
For Microsoft to rectify these problems will, of course, be painful
and expensive for the firm. It is also absolutely essential if its head
start over Sony, and the market goodwill it has built around its brand,
are to be even remotely meaningful over the coming years.
To hardcore gamers, consoles are "special case" items; they are early
adopters, generally have a large disposable income, and are willing to
accept all manner of problems and flaws in order to enjoy the games
they want to play. However, they are a small - if vocal - market. To
everyone else, to the vast ocean of consumers to whom Microsoft must
now appeal, if the PlayStation brand is to be unseated, a console is
just another piece of consumer electronics, and it is subject to the
same standards you would expect from your DVD player, your digital
camera or your toaster.
You wouldn't buy a specific DVD player, no matter how nice the
feature-set, if a friend had told you that he bought one last year and
had to return it to the manufacturer three times. You wouldn't buy a
certain digital camera if you heard that they routinely break down
after 13 months, and you have to pay around a third of the original
purchase cost to have them repaired. You wouldn't buy a toaster if your
friend had that model of toaster, said it made lovely toast, but every
couple of months it burns the bread and has to be replaced.
Silly examples? Not in the slightest; this is exactly the thought
process with which the average consumer, considering a next-gen
purchase, is presented. The Xbox 360 may be a magical box of wonders to
the hardcore gamers enjoying the likes of Gears of War and Crackdown,
but to the rest of the world, it's just another piece of consumer
electronics. If they hear horror stories about reliability and customer
service, they won't buy it - end of story.
Right now, those horror stories are proliferating; the word of mouth
about Xbox 360 is that the games are great, but the hardware is a
nightmare. If Microsoft is serious about reaching an audience with Xbox
360 which is bigger than the 20 million units achieved by Xbox, then
that simply isn't good enough. It's time for Redmond to stop burying
its head in the sand over this problem, and start coming up with
solutions - before its unhappy customers become one of Sony's best
assets.
(Gamesindustry.biz)
Mstation Games Review
Sat, 02 Jun 2007
