Microsoft Knew the Xbox was Mangling Disks

Monday, 15 December 2008 23:02 Written by Mark C. Barlet

Have you had an Xbox game drop into the tray, fresh out of the box, to later have it be ejected with a gouge on it as deep as the grand canyon. Wonder what did it? Your Xbox did. Documents unsealed in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Seattle against Microsoft show that Microsoft was well aware of the game mangling flaw. You may soon get a letter from the software giant because the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are asking the court for class-action status on behalf of all those who purchased an Xbox 360.

This motion unsealed has some juicy quotes from Microsoft’s own employees. Microsoft program manager, Hiroo Umeno, who said in a declaration, "This is ... information that we as a team, optical disc drive team, knew about. When we first discovered the problem in September or October (2005), when we got a first report of disc movement, we knew this is what's causing the problem."

If this document is to be believed, and there is no reason to believe it is not, soon after the launch of the 360 reports of the disk destruction came in and Microsoft sent Xbox 360 engineers to stores across this great nation "to investigate complaints that the Xbox 360 was routinely scratching discs during demonstrations."

The cause? Well your Xbox was not perfectly level (you need a laser, 2 friends, and a view of the southern sky to get a read off the satellite), and the disk inside would come “unchucked” and shake around inside your Xbox like a cold web kitten, cause deep gouges to appear on the outside third of the disk. Trust me, this did not make unlock a hidden level, it wiped out the game.

Seattle Post – Intelligencer adds

Because of the complaints, Microsoft considered three possibilities to fix the problem, but rejected all of them.

One solution would have increased the magnetic field of the disc holder, but it was dismissed because it could have interfered with the disc opening and closing mechanism. Another solution -- slowing the speed at which the disc was rotated -- was rejected because it could have increased the time required for a game to load. A third solution, installing small bumpers, was too expensive. It would have cost between $35 million and $75 million.

Eventually, Microsoft did institute an Xbox 360 disc replacement program that sends out new discs to customers if their discs are damaged for any reason. The program only applies to Microsoft titles and costs $20 per disc.

A warning was also included in the product manual, telling customers to "remove discs before moving the console or tilting it between the horizontal and vertical positions."

But, according to the motion, Microsoft employees deemed in an internal e-mail that the warning was insufficient.

A warning label was also affixed to the Xbox 360's disc drive.

More than 55,000 customers have complained about broken discs as of April 30, according to a Microsoft employee quoted in the motion.

Plaintiffs in the case also include a statement from an engineering consultant who says that other electronics makers, including Sony and Nintendo, almost always incorporate the possibility that a console could be moved while a disc is rotating inside in the designs of their products. Read his declaration here.