Seagate has revealed new 2TB and 512GB Xbox Series X/S Storage Expansion Cards.
Since the Series X/S’ release, only a pricey 1TB ($299) variant has been available. Canadian pricing remains unclear, but in the U.S. the 2TB storage card costs $399.99 (about $493 CAD) and the 512GB card costs $139.99 (roughly $171.40).
While the 512GB card is a little more reasonably priced, the 2GB Expansion Card costs nearly as much as the $599 Series X.
Both cards will launch in mid-November in the United States. We’ll likely see the new Storage Expansion Card sizes in Canada during roughly the same period. MobileSyrup has reached out to Microsoft for more information regarding Canadian pricing.
Series X/S Storage Expansion Cards are compatible with Microsoft’s Xbox Velocity Architecture, enabling fast loading of Series X titles thanks to its 2.4 GB/s of raw I/O throughput, a number 40x the original Xbox One.
While playing last-gen games on the Series X with a standard USD HDD or SSD drive is possible, current-gen titles need to be installed on the consoles’ internal drive or on an Expansion Card. Further, if you play a last-gen game on the internal drive or expansion card, you’ll get improved load times.
While a Storage Expansion Card is far from necessary, the Series X’s 1TB or Series S’ 512GB built-in SSD can fill up after installing just a couple of games.
On the other side of the console war, though Sony’s strategy of allowing owners to install any compatible SSD in the PlayStation 5 is far more open, M.2 SSD drives remain relatively expensive.
Source: Microsoft