Xbox Series X may be bringing back (somewhat) something we haven’t seen since the Playstation 2 days: memory cards. Well, not really, but they do really look like memory cards.
For the upcoming console, when a player runs out of the console’s base memory, they will need to use an official Seagate expansion module to slide into a port on the console. You can use this module to hold additional Series X games, and it looks a lot like a memory card from the old days, or rather, the days of 15 years ago. While these modules function a lot like a memory card, each one is actually a 1TB solid state drive that will plug right into the console. There is also potential that more modules with greater space will be released in the future.
With this current generation, a player was able to connect and format a third-party hard drive to use as extra storage, but Microsoft seems to be making this function more proprietary in the new generation. This means that players will have to buy the official module sold by Microsoft, which could mean that the prices for modules could be up there.
While third-party USB drives are still usable with the new console, they can only be used to store and run Xbox One and Xbox backward-compatibility games, with Series X game being able to be stored on them. If you want to play a Series X, you will have to transfer them to the console’s built-in storage.
This also could mean that the modules you do need will be a higher price, since they are made and sold by Microsoft themselves. Many players have expressed concern that this new module will go the way of infamous proprietary memory cards used by Sony PS Vita. Many people have contributed the need for additional memory on the system, and the incredibly high price for these specific memory cards, to the Vita’s lack of success. Hopefully, Microsoft will have the foresight to not gouge the prices for these extra modules and allow players a financially-reasonable option to expand their memory. As of now, there is no information on how much the modules will cost.
There is no word on how much the console itself will cost, though we would expect it to be somewhere in $500 range, given the price of the Xbox One at launch. We will certainly know more in the coming months as we get ready for the Xbox Series X to launch this holiday season.
