The launch of next-generation consoles is nearing and peripheral makers are getting ready, too. Seagate, which is partnering with Xbox to provide proprietary storage expansion cards, recently launched a new website for the upcoming hardware. Set for release holiday 2020 to coincide with the Xbox Series X launch, the Seagate expansion card will be a requisite purchase for many early console investors. The website not only makes the Xbox Series X's launch that more real, but provides some additional information for Xbox fans to pore over.
The Seagate website confirms information that some, but not all, already know about the Xbox Series X expansion card. It features 1TB in storage and is a custom PCIe Gen4x2 NVMe drive that is exclusively used with the Xbox Series X. Seagate also confirms that the card will have a limited warranty of 3 years, which should sate some worries Xbox fans have about purchasing one.
There's also a quote from Seagate SVP Jeff Fochtman, who says that Seagate is, "thrilled to be a key player in next-generation gaming." He goes on to describe how Seagate's expansion cards will offer game storage at "peak speeds" that will replicate the Xbox Series X's own internal SSD. That's not new knowledge, but it bears repeating.
For those unfamiliar with the Seagate Xbox Series X expansion card, it's a peripheral not unlike buying a Seagate Xbox One external hard drive. Only, the Xbox Series X features a custom storage solution that's very fast. Using just a standard external hard drive with the Xbox Series X wouldn't work, because it'd be too slow. Xbox chose to partner with Seagate to offer this high-speed Xbox Series X expansion card instead. The card will be just as fast as the console's internal storage.
The consequence of Xbox's decision is that only Seagate will be offering this expansion card. That may mean that the price is higher than is fair or that it may have limited availability. Hopefully neither is true, but it's a possibility worth considering.
The Xbox Series X will launch with a 1TB storage solution, so virtually all Xbox fans won't have to pick up a Seagate storage expansion card anytime soon. But, for those that will be downloading a lot of their Xbox One library onto the Xbox Series X quickly, there's at least going to be an option at launch.
The Xbox Series X releases holiday 2020.
Source: Seagate