Microsoft May Be Working On Cheaper Third-Party Storage Expansion For Xbox Series

Microsoft appears to be working on a new, cheaper third-party storage expansion for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.

A new Western Digital Xbox storage expansion card has emerged at the online retail portal for Best Buy. Based on the listing, which has now been removed by the retailer, the new expansion card is cheaper than the current Seagate option.

According to the listing, the unannounced 1TB Western Digital storage expansion card for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S will retail for 179.99 US Dollars. It is $40 cheaper than the current Seagate option, which is priced at $219.99.

Microsoft first introduced Xbox expandable storage cards with its Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S consoles nearly three years ago. At the time, the 1TB card was only manufactured by Seagate and cost $219.99. Seagate has also introduced 512GB and 2TB storage options. The prices of the aforementioned storage expansion cards have not seen a drop since launch. On the other hand, non-proprietary storage expansion options for the PS5 have seen a major decline over the last few months.

For the uninitiated, the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S support external storage through a proprietary SSD expansion card that is inserted into the rear of the console. The consoles support external USB storage, just like the Xbox One, but only backward compatible games (which can also be transferred directly from an Xbox One console) are able to run directly using this method. Games designed specifically for the Xbox Series X and S must be kept on the internal SSD or an expansion card in order to be played, but they can be transferred to a USB storage device to free up space on the hard drive for other games.

Previously, it was reported that Microsoft will release a Diablo IV edition Xbox Series X console to coincide with the game’s launch.