The collective sigh of relief has engulfed many an Xbox fan overnight, with the latest news with regards to the Xbox Series X‘s storage solution proving positive after weeks of conjecture and concern.
We discovered back in Early September that Seagate’s Xbox Series X 1TB SSD expansion would come in at $359 AUD or around $220 USD. Not cheap, but probably in line with expectation given that it’s proprietary and also of the highest technological standard for both the console and storage in isolation.
This range of storage expansion cards is a proprietary piece of hardware, so it’s to be expected that it would be on the pricier side of things. It’s designed specifically for the console to slot straight into the back of both the Xbox Series X and Series S.
You can use these cards for two things:
- Storing games
- Playing Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and, importantly, Xbox Series games. That is, games made specifically for Xbox Series X|S.
If you have a USB-powered storage device, you can:
- Store games
- Play Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One games
You won’t be able to play Xbox Series X|S games via USB-powered storage drives, meaning your current means of storage expansion on the Xbox One probably won’t be all that useful on the Series X|S. Unless of course you’re prepared to continually move your games from that storage onto the console’s internal storage in order to play it, which actually isn’t all that bad an idea given how expensive these SSD drives are.
So the question remains: will there be a range of Xbox Series X and Series X cards in different sizes, from different manufacturers, that work in the same way as Seagate’s?
Initially, the belief was that, no, there won’t be other cards from other manufacturers, and people would be forced to go the Seagate route. It was also believed to be the permanent direction for the console. Turns out that could actually change in the future, however.
Speaking on the most recent episode of the Major Nelson Podcast, Xbox director of program management, Jason Ronald, said that over time this will change.
“You’ll see this [storage expansion] a category that’s really critical to us,” Ronald explained. “You’ll see multiple options and different form factors and different sizes.”
Ronald explained that the reasoning for having a proprietary option from launch was for accessibility reasons.
“[What] was really important for us is that we had a simple, easy-to-use option available day one. You can expect to see more options moving forward,” he explained.
So there you have it. With time we will likely see new storage options for the Xbox Series X, in different sizes and from different manufacturers, and therefore at different prices.
