The price of the customized SSD drive would be expensive, although it will still come as a shock to players who will have to fork out more than $200 to increase the next-gen console's storage.
The 1TB Seagate Expansion Card is a proprietary storage solution that has been designed specifically to match the performance of the internal SSD drive of the Xbox Series X and S consoles. While players can use standard hard drives to play older Xbox One and Xbox 360 games, titles launching for the next-gen systems will need to be installed on either the internal drive or the official expansion card. This is necessary due to the advanced features, such as increased loading speeds, that the games require.
Microsoft has revealed how much its expandable storage drives will cost for the Xbox Series X and S consoles and it won't be cheap. According to The Verge, Best Buy has listed the official 1TB Seagate Expansion Card on its website, with each unit costing $219.99 in total. That's almost as much as the cost of the Xbox Series S console. These drives slot into the back of the next-gen systems and have exactly the same performance as the internal hard drive. The expensive price will mean those wanting to double the storage of the Xbox Series X will have to pay almost $720.
Buying one of the Seagate Expansion Cards may not be necessary for all gamers though. Microsoft has also recently announced that games on the Xbox Series S will be up to 30% smaller than those on the Xbox Series X. So players who only have the cheaper version of the next-gen Xbox will be able to save some hard drive space. That's because the Xbox Store will only the relevant files for each system, meaning those on the Xbox Series S won't have to the larger 4K textures.
Considering how cheap 1TB hard drives are now, this costly price for the 1TB Seagate Expansion Card will come as a shock to many gamers. After all, the Xbox Series S console is only slightly more expensive than the additional storage drive. But the current prices of SSD drives compared to standard hard drives are still relatively high. Meanwhile, the proprietary nature of the expansion card should mean there is no drop in performance for next-gen games being played on the Xbox Series X regardless of whether they are stored on the internal drive or the external card.
The Xbox Series X and S consoles are due to launch on November 10, 2020.
Source: The Verge
