Cheaper Storage upgrades are coming to Xbox Series X/S, but they are still too expensive
Western Digital Xbox Series X/S storage upgrades have been spotted, and they are cheaper than Seagate’s version
Most modern AAA games are huge, and that means that most console gamers are interested in upgrading their systems with more storage. This is especially true for Xbox Series S users, as that system only contains 512GB of total storage.Â
On PlayStation 5, gamers can upgrade their systems with compatible PCIe 4.0 SSDs, allowing users of the console to utilise the PC hardware ecosystem to upgrade their gaming systems. This has resulted in lower priced SSD upgrade options for PlayStation 5 users when compared to Xbox Series X/S users.Â
For Xbox Series X/S, Microsoft opted to create expandable storage cards that guaranteed a specific performance level to ensure that Xbox users never ran into any performance issues after expanding their system’s storage. These storage cards are optimised for Xbox Series X/S, but at launch they were only produced by Seagate, and they are currently a lot more expensive (per TB) than equivalent PS5 compatible storage upgrades.Â
On the Best buy website, new Western Digital WD_Black SSD upgrade cards for Xbox Series X/S have been spotted, sporting pricing that is notably lower than the currently available Seagate option. Competition is coming to the Xbox Series X/S storage market, though with a $180 price for 1TB of storage, these drives remain more expensive than PC/PS5 compatible SSD upgrades.Â
When 1TB PS5 compatible SSDs are currently available for under £100, it is hard not to see Microsoft’s Xbox Series X/S upgrade options as overly expensive given their current pricing. Until Microsoft can achieve lower pricing with these products, cheaper storage upgrades will always be a factor that will push gamers towards PlayStation 5 instead of Xbox Series X/S. While it is good to see Western Digital bring competition to the Xbox storage upgrade market, Microsoft needs lower pricing for these storage upgrade cards not to be seen as a negative for the Xbox ecosystem.
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