Xbox Series X will bring with it a number of changes, from a 1 TB SSD through to its Quick Resume feature, allowing players to handily switch between their favorite games with minimal loading times. But one of the most interesting new additions isn’t something that’s inside the console at all — it’s a memory card.
Traditional memory cards have scarcely been seen since the days of the PlayStation 2, with most console manufacturers opting for internal storage. This means that when players inevitably run out of space, they’ve been forced to either upgrade their console to a newer model with more storage, buy a third-party external hard drive, or buy a pricey internal hard drive that they have to manually insert into their consoles themselves.
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The Xbox Series X takes a different approach. The upcoming console uses a Seagate expansion module (complete with the official Xbox logo) that slots into a port on the console. This module will be used to hold additional Series X games, given that games developed for the console will need a high level of speed that isn’t attainable by other external hard drives.
The device looks like a memory card and functions in the same way, though it’s a 1TB SSD that plugs straight into the Xbox Series X. It reportedly has exactly the same performance as the console’s internal SSD, with there being potential that cards with larger amounts of storage space will become available in the future.
The memory card can be seen in Austin Evans’ hands-on with the console, starting at the 7:35 mark:
Microsoft isn’t officially calling this external SSD a memory card, but it’s certainly similar to the old storage solution. With the console requiring this device to store additional Series X games and it looking likely that the manufacturer will offer larger variations of it in the future, let’s hope the price is right on these things.
