Xbox Series S’s Expandable Storage Drive Costs Almost As Much As the Console Itself

Both the Xbox Series X and S have an expandable storage option. Interestingly, this will only be possible via a proprietary drive created by Seagate in collaboration with Xbox. So far, fans know that it has the same speed and build like the Series X and S’s internal SSD. Now, Best Buy has revealed the price for the same, which raises an important question: Why is it so expensive?

Also Read: Is the Xbox Series S SSD a Little Inadequate?

Popular Industry Insider Wario64 brought this to everyone’s attention via a tweet. He said “Seagate – 1TB Game Drive for Xbox Series X and Series S External Custom PCI Express Gen4 x2 (NVMe) Solid State Drive is up for preorder at Best Buy ($219.99)”

$219 is awfully close to the price of the Xbox Series S which is $299. Potential customers will definitely this option because the price is so high. Moreover, it is supposed to be a great option for Xbox Series S users who don’t want to splurge too much to buy the Series X. But, club the price of this expandable storage drive with the Series S’s price, and it actually costs more than the Series X. If this was always the case, then fans are better off going for the Series X that already has a 1TB SSD instead of the Series S’s 512GB storage.

Also Read: Why Microsoft Buying Bethesda Spells Bad News for Sony

Segate’s Storage option for Xbox has a slight advantage over Sony in terms of ease of use

Although, this proprietary drive does make life simpler for players. Unlike other NVMe drives, this one is simply plug-n-play. There is a separate slot in both the next-gen consoles where one can simply plug in the drive and take complete control. This is a slight advantage over Sony considering the PS5’s IO doesn’t show any such option. Sony does have the option for expandable storage but it will most likely be internal, which probably means having to open up the console to install it. Additionally, Sony will have third-party options for the same that will be priced lower than its internal SSD, even though they might not be as fast as the PS5’s custom SSD.

Nevertheless, this is price reveal is not something fans would be thoroughly excited about. The Drives are compact, extremely portable, and lightning fast as well. But this is still going to be a long debate solely because of its price. There are no other known options third-party alternatives for the Xbox Series X and S’s expandable storage. If there are any plans in the future, Microsoft could definitely do with a cheaper option for the fans. (Even if it means compromising on the speed a little bit)