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Anyone who bought an Xbox 360 knew true fear. We're not talking about the stress of jumping into a firefight in Gears of War. We're talking about the agony of firing up their console and seeing just a red light staring at them. The infamous Red Ring of Death. According to one of the executives who helped launch the Xbox 360, the Red Ring of Death wasn’t just a glaring flaw in their new console that cost the company more than a $1 billion to remedy; it was a defining moment for Microsoft and the Xbox brand.

The Red Ring of Death (RROD) was a flaw where Xbox 360 consoles would just stop working. There was no conceivable cause from the customer’s point of view – they would just wake up one day to find their expensive console was now an expensive doorstop. The issue was so common that Microsoft earmarked $1.15 billion to extend the warranty of the Xbox 360 console, with much of that money going toward shipping costs to get working consoles back in players’ hands.

The response that Microsoft put together involved sending a box overnight to players, which they could then load the broken console into and ship it back to Microsoft with overnight delivery. Xbox would then send a replacement console to the player overnight, which, as you can imagine, was an expensive process.

“That’s where a lot of the money was,” Peter Moore, a former executive at Xbox when the Xbox 360 launched, explained in an interview to mark the 20th anniversary of the console. “The overnight FedEx, UPS, and DHL or whatever was being used at that time.”

The massive cost was worth it for the company though, as it proved that they were serious about giving fans a good gaming experience. “But the one thing I will always say is this was, for us, a defining moment. If we hadn’t done what we did, I’m not sure the Xbox brand would be around today.”

The gaming industry has come a long way since Pong blew all our minds in the 70s. We've got everything you need to know about the next big thing in games. Of course, Grand Theft Auto VI is going to be the big game of 2026, but there are plenty of other games coming out between now and then. Here is our starter guide for every gamer:

• All upcoming games in 2025 and beyond
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And be sure to check Popverse regularly for the latest gaming news.