Whether you’re picking up an Xbox Series X or an Xbox Series S this holiday, it’s likely you’ll eventually run out of storage space at some point. Games are fairly large already, after all, and they’ll only continue to grow. If you want to expand the amount of space you have to install games, Microsoft’s Xbox Series X storage cards are the best option, as they’ll operate at the same speed as Microsoft’s internal SSD (which next-gen games require).
But how much are Microsoft’s Xbox Series X storage cards? Be prepared to set aside a pretty penny. These expansion cards are mega expensive.
According to a post published on the Xbox news blog today, Microsoft’s Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S expansion cards — which are manufactured by Seagate — will retail for $219.99. Yes, that’s right. To expand your storage, you’ll need to buy a plug-and-play drive that is $80 short of being the same price as the Xbox Series S.
SSDs are expensive, sure. The ones used in Microsoft’s newest consoles are lightning quick, too. But are they $220 good? Are they really worth that much money? You’ll ultimately have to be the judge of that.
Keep in mind, however, these storage cards are the kind you can play your Series X and Series S games off of. There are other storage options available if all you are doing is literally storing your games and that’s it. A USB external drive, for example, can do the job if you are willing to transfer your Series X and Series S titles back to the console’s internal drive.
And older titles, such as those for Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Xbox, can be played from any kind of external USB drive. They don’t require the expensive Seagate cards at all. So if you have a treasure trove of backward-compatible titles you want to keep off the internal hard drive, you can drop those onto an external SSD or HDD and play them from there.
Still, if you are looking to expand storage for the newest and best-looking next-gen games, the price of the Series X storage cards might be tough to swallow. Microsoft did speak of potentially having different sizes and varying types of cards down the line, however, so there’s some hope the prices will come down. Until then, it’s likely that I, personally, will keep Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S games on an external USB drive until I need them. Spending $220 on top of spending money on a brand new console seems like a bit much.