Western Digital has entered the Xbox Series X|S expandable storage market with the launch of its new WD Black C50 1TB expansion card. Previously, Seagate had been the sole provider of compatible storage cards for the consoles. Western Digital’s card offers a more affordable alternative for gamers looking to expand their storage capacity, particularly benefiting Xbox Game Pass subscribers who require more space to download and play games.
Features and Pricing
The WD Black C50 1TB Expansion Card shares similar features and specifications with Seagate’s offerings. Both expansion cards provide a plug-and-play interface and support for Quick Resume functionality. However, Western Digital’s card is priced at $179.99, making it $40 cheaper than Seagate’s 1TB internal NVMe SSD for the Xbox consoles. Additionally, Western Digital offers a five-year warranty compared to Seagate’s three-year warranty.
Availability and Future Variants
The WD Black C50 1TB Xbox expansion card was spotted on BestBuy’s website before being taken down, with no official announcement from Western Digital. The release of this new expansion card may prompt more competitive pricing in the market, and it is expected that Western Digital will launch 512GB and 2TB variants in the future.
Benefits for Xbox Game Pass Subscribers
Xbox Game Pass subscribers stand to benefit from Western Digital’s new storage expansion card, as modern games often have large file sizes that quickly fill up the console’s built-in storage. The Xbox Series X and Series S consoles come with 1TB and 500GB SSDs, respectively, which may not be enough to accommodate the storage needs of avid gamers. The WD Black C50 1TB expansion card provides a more affordable option for these users to store and play more games without breaking the bank.
It’s important to note that while gamers can use regular external hard drives to store games, they cannot play Xbox Series X|S games directly from them. The games must be transferred to the Xbox’s SSD or an official expansion card to be played. Xbox One games, however, can be loaded from an external drive on the Xbox Series X|S consoles. The introduction of Western Digital’s expandable storage card offers more options for gamers, potentially leading to more competitive pricing in the market and better accessibility for Xbox users.
