Microsoft sued in California for faulty Xbox 360s

I'm with this big time. Microsoft should have to pay for bringing out a defective system and knowingly launching the console just to compete with the ps3 and wii.

"Microsoft would have to "disgorge" all the cash it made on the 360"

jokes on you, microsoft hasn't made any cash on 360, they're still operating at a loss. And refund program? They warranty every xbox. They're quick and ask no questions when you turn it in.

This is a nonissue and hopefully will be thrown out of court immediately.

Good, this should be a lesson for future console makers to actuallly test the product before it ships.

Well I'm sorry that people think that Microsoft as a company is the second coming of Jesus, but the truth is that Microsoft is a terrible company that engages in some very questionable business tactics.

Just like a bank that sells off a whole bunch of securites and credit swaps then gets hit on margin calls. Microsoft knew what it was doing when it launched the 360. They knew the failure rates from the production line.

Microsoft knowingly put a defective product on the market with a failure rate of over 70%. With early units the failure rate will hit almost 100%. Every person I know with a first year 360 has had it fail at least once.

That is grounds for a lawsuit and Microsft deserves to be punished for what they did. Sure there have been a few great games for the system but that does not make up for the garbage piece of hardware.

It is the same thing as a lawyer saying, "Yes my client stole a few hundred thousand dollars and burnt a few houses down, but he donated $20k to charity and offered to rebuild the house he burnt down. I think we should cut him some slack and let him go."

IF THE ECONOMY IS SO BAD THEN PEOPLE DESERVE THE REFUND TO HELP THEM OUT WITH BILLS, NOT HELP OUT BILL.

If MS had just ponied up the dough to build their product in the US, they may have broken even AND had a better reputation.

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Nintendo, Sony, and M$ have all been targets of sue sharks over the past couple of years...but I think M$ could legitimately lose this one. For what they're being sued for, the can't possibly defend against it. They knew their product was faulty and they put millions through hell.

And I will laugh when their production line stops. It'll teach them to stop taking Sony-famed games :)

double post to make joystiq remember me

I can't really say anything about wanting a recall. From personal experience, I'm a satisfied customer.

I still have my launch 360 and it's been almost 3 years. I have an Elite 360 that's working great. I just picked up another 360 Pro a couple of months ago for my office. All 3 of them are functioning fine and see ample use from me and my friends... whether it's playing games, watching DVD's, streaming videos from my PC, etc.

I'm not saying that there aren't issues with other peoples 360s when they complain... I'm just saying don't think that it's all 360s that are failing. I don't know the exact percentage and I'm sure no one else does except certain MS employees.

My xbox died october 12th 2008 at approximately 12:00 pm central time.

Within 24 hours I had a ups label provided by microsoft and sent my xbox out the door, too anxiously await a 2-3 week return.

Can I blame microsoft for high rates of hardware failure ( Possibly due to shoddy controls and quality measurements )? Of course.

Can I blame microsoft for not responding to that problem in a responsible manner? No, they responded and took necessary actions.

I've had my xbox for nearly 2 years and 7 months before it tanked. A rate far longer then what I typically have for computer replacements or simple pc repair/upgrade. Not to mention that it is a device I used frequently, without having to do said upgrades throughout its life span.

I've had 4 repairs; I hope this goes to a national level and I can sign up here in MO.

I've played more Ps3 in the last two days than I have 360 in the past two months; I have no faith in the system anymore. If it RRoD's again I'm going to repair the damn thing myself with some AS5 and the nuts/bolts method; screw the MS repair center. >=(

I'm so happy I don't live in California.

Generous? Considering the failure rate, this product should have been recalled and replaced with standard quality unit or completely refunded the money. Frankly, the extended warranty is the least they could do.

I bought one (which has RROD twice), but I won't buy another MS game console (or likely any MS hardware). I won't reward failure and incompetence with my money.

FWIW, I'm all for the lawsuit. It's one of the things (in addition to rational consumers) that Milton Friedman said maintains the free market. It's a court so you have to prove your argument.

No.

A recall would have delayed everyone getting their 360 back by flooding the channel with Xboxes that haven't failed yet. A recall would be the knee jerk reaction, but when you actually look at the analysis, replacing 360's as the fail is much more efficent for the consumer.

Plus, a "recall" is for when a product poses an immadiate threat to the consumer, which this does not. Microsoft dealt with this correctly.

I can't believe people are reporting on this without tying to verify the lawsuit exists. Both Joystiq and Kotaku have picked this up, even though the DailyGamesNews.com report is so devoid of information, I'm not even convinced the lawsuit exists.

Who are the plaintiffs? Is the lawsuit already a class-action suit, or is it merely seeking class-action status? Why aren't there any quotes from lawyers in the article? Is there a way for people to join the settlement group? Where's the obligatory attempt to contact Microsoft? DailyGamesNews doesn't even site any sources at all. How about a link to some legal documents or even a single game? Hell, there's a major grammatical problem in the first sentence of the linked article, and people want to think this is credible?

Don't get me wrong. There very well may be a lawsuit. There are certainly enough reasons out there for someone to sue and want their money back. But it'd be nice to see the larger blogs (who I like to think are a little more responsible) take some effort to check things out before reporting them as fact.

@chin-poh

You can search anything on Google and get millions of results. You say this in every single post of yours' but it proves nothing. I have a 60GB launch PS3, no problems. My son even shoved 3-4 disks at once in there couple of times, didn't think it would work after that. But it's still going strong. I had to use needle pliers to get 'em out. I watch tons of Blu-ray and game on it hours straight. It sucks that your system broke, but it makes no sense to keep bitching when everyone knows there's no widespread PS3 hardware issues.

At this point, I don't care anymore. I also will not be buying the next xbox anywhere near launch. That thing's going to have to prove to me that it's mechanically sound first.

Great! As a Cali resident, I hope MS loses the lawsuit and I get my money back. I would've never bought a 360 had I known the true extent of the RROD problem.

The reason we are in this economy nonsense is because of scumbag corporations like microsoft, i hope they lose and pay people who trusted their product and failed. Fascism has taken over this country!!