Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S is coming to India on February 8, Seagate India has announced. It will cost Rs. 23,499, but will be available for a promotional price of Rs. 22,999 for the first week: from February 8–14. In the US, it’s priced at $220 (roughly Rs. 16,250). Seagate India will offer a three-year limited warranty. The 1TB Storage Expansion Card will be sold via Amazon in India. It effectively doubles the 1TB internal SSD on the Series X and triples the Series S’ 512GB SSD. You can use it to not only store next-gen titles, but also play them off the expansion card.
Xbox Series X Review: Old Wine Made New
Microsoft has gone for the proprietary storage expansion route with Xbox Series S/X, and the back of the next-gen consoles have an “Expansion Slot” to, well, slot them in. Seagate’s 1TB Storage Expansion Card is currently the only available external storage option for Xbox Series S/X. Microsoft and Seagate collaborated to design the Storage Expansion Card — that helps it to “achieve the same performance as the Xbox Velocity Architecture,” Seagate said, and “mirror the functionality of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S internal SSDs.”
While you can connect any compatible external HDD to the new Xbox machines, they can only be used to store and play old games, from Xbox One, Xbox 360, or Xbox era. For Series S/X titles, hard drives are like cold storage. But Seagate’s Storage Expansion Card is fast enough to play Series S/X games that are stored on it.
Seagate Storage Expansion Card in Xbox Series X’s “Expansion Slot”
Photo Credit: Seagate/Microsoft
Sony has opted for a friendlier expansion option with PlayStation 5 that will let you slot in a supported internal SSD, as long as it matches the speed and performance of the console’s own SSD. But the PS5’s expansion slot is currently inaccessible, and Sony will only enable it in a future software update. For now, the PS5’s storage cannot be expanded at all.
PlayStation 5 Review: New Era, Half Jump
In a prepared statement, Seagate senior vice president Jeff Fochtman said: “Seagate is thrilled to be a key player in next-generation gaming. With a new standard in performance, games will be more dynamic, visually stunning, and immersive than ever. Seagate’s Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S technology delivers additional game storage at peak speeds, replicating the consoles’ internal SSD experiences. We are proud to join forces with Xbox and can’t wait to help gamers immerse themselves in the high-fidelity experience.”
The 1TB Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S will be available starting February 8 on Amazon India for Rs. 22,999. The price will go up to Rs. 23,499 from February 15.
