Xbox 360 hardware error caused Microsoft to lose ... 1 billion USD

Microsoft giant has announced it will have to over $ 1.15 billion to fix a hardware error of the Xbox 360 gaming machine on a large scale, after a series of suddenly "rolled out".

In addition, Microsoft will extend the warranty for Xbox 360 to 3 years, after having too many machines with the above hardware error.

"For the past few months, we've been working hard to fix the Xbox 360, but it's not over yet, " said Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's entertainment and device division. This is also the department that developed the Zune music player.

Misfortunes never come alone

According to Bach, Microsoft will make some changes in the production and assembly of the Xbox, in the hope of minimizing the possibility of sticking. However, when asked specifically what the error is, and whether there are other errors that exist within the Xbox 360, Bach only wisely refuses.

There is only one thing that one can be sure of: this error is not slight, and it is not an isolated case of some machines. Otherwise, Microsoft did not expect a record amount of $ 1.15 billion in the next quarter to "fix the problem" as well as "warranty extension".

Unemployment, even sales and sales of Xbox 360 in the last fiscal year did not reach the previous forecast, due to fierce competition from Sony PlayStation 3 and especially Nintendo Wii.

Even analyst Matt Rosoff of Directions on Microsoft said that Microsoft's entertainment and devices division had lost more than $ 6 billion since 2002.

Record losses

This is not the first time Microsoft has signed a "big" budget plan. In the late 1990s, the company spent more than $ 10 billion to invest in telecommunications companies.

The anti-monopoly lawsuits also cost Microsoft more than $ 5 billion. But a billion dollars for a single part, in a single fiscal quarter - is a terrifying record.

" It shows that the incident is extremely popular ," said Rosoff.

Previously, the warranty policy for Xbox 360 was only 1 year for US customers and 2 years for European customers. However, under the new program, Microsoft will bear the entire cost of repair and shipping within 3 years, worldwide for defective products.

One sign of error is when the Xbox 360 front lights flash 3 red lights - a phenomenon that gamers often call "death red ring". Bloggers even argue that the Xbox 360's bug is so popular that Microsoft runs out of "coffins" (ie parcel boxes to return products to customers - after fixing them).

According to Microsoft's estimates, since the time of official release (November 2005), the company has sold more than 11.6 million Xbox 360s, which is lower than the initial target of 12 million units.

Trong Cam