XBox 360: Major Trouble Ahead From Wii & Itself

Wii continues to dominate the US market. Nintendo shifted 381,800 Wii consoles and 561,900 DS handhelds in June compared to 98,500 PlayStation 3 units and 198,400 Xbox 360 consoles. But the biggest trouble for XBox 360 could be the product itself.

Consider the case of avid gamer Brian Crecente. Nine XBox 360 died on him of which eight of them died due to the dreaded read ring and the ninth due to broken DVD player. Brian is what you would call a “real” gamer not to mention that he is the editor of Kotaku, most popular gaming blog. If someone like Brian has to deal with 9 broken XBoxes, imagine the fate of any normal gamers.

I don’t necessarily agree with Om Malik’s view that XBox 360 is doomed, however I too think it has a tough road ahead in Christmas of 2007 and beyond. Xbox 360 currently has a failure rate of 30% according to retailers.

The silver lining for XBox 360 is that it saw growth in June, outstripping PlayStation will a sales increase of 28 percent. At least XBox 360 can be a good follower to Wii, which seems destined to assume the leadership mantle as casual gaming is gaining a strong foothold in the industry and capturing the imagination of the masses.