What you need to know
- While Xbox Series X|S consoles can use any regular USB storage device, to run modern games, you need to grab a pricy Seagate expansion card.
- Microsoft has been working to address the criticism that the cards are too expensive, and now we have our first real permanent price drop.
- The new starting prices are $89 for 512 GB, $149 for 1 TB, and $279 for 2 TB.
One of the biggest issues affecting the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles in recent years has been the price of storage. It's a bad situation when the best Xbox SSDs cost as much as the console itself, and it seems Microsoft agrees.
Announced on Twitter today, Microsoft revealed that the official Seagate Xbox Series X|S storage expansion cards are grabbing a permanent price drop. Now, the cards start at $89 for 512 GB, $149 for 1 TB, and $279 for 2 TB.
I outlined in a previous article why Xbox Series X|S storage expansion cards are so expensive, and it pertains to the fact they're semi-proprietary. While they use the CFExpress standard, they are slightly customized to support the Xbox Series X|S ports. Seagate, for now, has an exclusivity deal on the cards. However, we have it on good authority that Western Digital is also gearing up to reveal its own Xbox Series X|S storage cards, under its gaming WD_Black brand. The WD_Black Xbox Series X|S storage cards leaked via a premature retail listing, and we've confirmed with our own sources that it is indeed real, and launching imminently.
For now, however, the Seagate expansion cards remain your best bet. There's no confirmation right now how much the WD_Black cards will cost, but if there's one way they can become more competitive, it would be on price. The CFExpress standard is pretty expensive, though, so I wouldn't expect them to get much cheaper than what Seagate is already offering with this permanent price drop.
The cards are available now from Amazon, Best Buy, and other major retailers.
