Xbox Series X might finally get a cheaper storage expansion card

Duncan Robertson
·2 min read
6
WD Black C50 expansion card for Xbox in a Series X with a white background
WD Black C50 expansion card for Xbox in a Series X with a white background

A new storage expansion card for Xbox Series X and S was spotted over the weekend at Best Buy, but has since been removed from the store. This option from Western Digital's WD_Black brand would be the first official competitor to the Seagate Expansion Card, which has been available since the earliest days of the console.

The Seagate Expansion Card is by far and away the best Xbox Series X hard drive because it's the closest thing the platform has to an additional internal SSD. The card slots into a small port in the back of either console, resembling the design of a PS2 memory card, and offers more storage for new-gen and last-gen games.

Perhaps most interestingly, the WD_Black card was priced cheaper than Seagate's, which you'll struggle to find any cheaper than $210. The removed listing said the WD_Black C50, which hasn't been officially announced, would cost $179.99 - a whole $40 less for the 1TB model.

It's not clear at the moment when this storage expansion will be available for purchase, and what capacities will be on offer. The Best Buy listing was for the 1TB version, and we've seen 500GB and 2TB variants of the Seagate Expansion Card.

WD Black C50 expansion card for Xbox in a series S showing the cover for the expansion card
WD Black C50 expansion card for Xbox in a series S showing the cover for the expansion card

A new manufacturer creating a competitive price battle is just what the Xbox storage market needs, however, as the cost of Seagate's Expansion Card hasn't shifted much since launch. This is despite the fact that the best SSDs for gaming have been seeing record-low offers for more than a year now.

That said, since the C50 listing was spotted over the weekend, Best Buy has reduced the Seagate model to only $189.99.

The Xbox Series X and S do not have internal M.2 slots for PCIe Gen 4 SSDs like the PS5 does. This means beyond the Seagate card, only the best external hard drives will work as additional game storage for Xbox users. Since even external SSDs aren't able to launch new-gen games, having only one option for additional storage makes things more difficult.

Meanwhile, the best PS5 SSDs are all internal and come from a range of manufacturers, making it easy for Sony's adopters to get storage solutions for cheap prices.

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