LITSLINK Study: Software-Breaking Updates Cost Billions While Widely Cited Stats on UX-Related Losses Remain Unproven
Software development company LITSLINK reports that the largest risk for companies is an update that breaks functionality rather than one that prompts user complaints. Researchers examined 12 products: 10, including…
LITSLINK finds updates that break functionality cost far more than UX changes users dislike; the three most-cited figures on the cost of bad UX lack a verifiable source.
PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Software development company LITSLINK reports that the largest risk for companies is an update that breaks functionality rather than one that prompts user complaints. Researchers examined 12 products: 10, including Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, and Figma, were assessed via regulatory filings and peer-reviewed research; CrowdStrike and Sonos were examined as the costliest failed updates on record. LITSLINK commissioned the research after its own website rebuild showed how little companies know about what a release costs.
In July 2024, a faulty CrowdStrike update sent 8.5 million Windows devices into a boot loop and cost Fortune 500 companies an estimated $5.4 billion. In May 2024, Sonos launched a redesigned app that removed existing features and left older speakers unresponsive; recovery cost the company $20–30 million, about 100 jobs, 8% of annual revenue, and its CEO. Yet even this redesign produced less than 1% of the losses from a single CrowdStrike update.
Companies cannot say what a single update costs them. The nine public companies in LITSLINK's study report a combined $115.8 billion in annual research and development expenses, yet none itemizes the cost of updates or redesigns. Much of what that spending produces also goes unused: a Pendo analysis found that 80% of shipped features are rarely or never used.
The cost of lost time due to UX updates depends on where an employee works. If 10,000 employees each spend 30 minutes relearning a tool after an interface change, that time is worth €284,000 in Luxembourg and €60,000 in Bulgaria at Eurostat's 2025 labor rates.
The three most-quoted figures on the cost of bad UX, including the claim that every dollar invested in UX returns $100, trace to a software vendor's blog post citing its own audits and to a Forrester attribution that no Forrester publication supports.
"We started research after rebuilding our own website, when almost nothing went according to plan. That experience raised a bigger question: what do companies like Microsoft, Figma, or Zoom actually pay for their setbacks?" — Serhii Antoniuk, CEO at LITSLINK
The full study is available on the LITSLINK website.
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