re: Xbox raising prices, sunsetting 2TB version

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I simply move my games to an external hard drive when I'm not actively playing them.

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I don't see the appeal or benefit of an SSD card at all.

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Well, not having to do what you said in the first quoted message is certainly an appeal and benefit. But you don't seem to mind the extra time involved in transferring games between external and internal storage since non-proprietary storage cards can't play native X and S games. Not everyone feels that way.

However, you're still being pedantic, so let me see if I can be clearer:

The reason why it's a whiff is because if a gamer wanted to add SSD storage for Xbox they had to buy a very expensive proprietary SSD expansion card, whereas Sony allows you to use any M.2 NVMe SSD (which were significantly cheaper than the Xbox cards).

No doubt PlayStation will also be raising prices. Glad I already got the switch 2, tech is about to be a blood bath.

I saw someone posted Xbox one was at $140 at this point in the same life cycle. Crazy to pay these prices for 6 year old system.

At some point consumers stop paying this right?

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I remember this being something people mentioned at the time, but never really looked into it because I honestly have no interest in SSD expansion cards.

That said, is this still the case? I tried to find Playstation-compatible SSD cards on Amazon that are cheaper than the XBox-branded cards, and I'm not finding them. Best comparison I can find is maybe $10 cheaper than an XBox branded version for the same amount of memory. I can find much cheaper Playstation-compatible ones if I want to go down to like 500 GB instead of 1 TB, but not if I'm comparing 1 TB to 1 TB.

I used "M.2 NVMe SSD" from your post for my search, as well as "playstation SSD," but admittedly didn't spend a ton of time looking for this. Just curious to see what the price difference is that we're talking about here. The price difference I saw would be difficult for me to believe is enough for someone to make a console decision.

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PS5 has slot for a M.2 NVME SSD. It slots in exactly like you would slot one in on the motherboard of a PC. Can be used for a vast amount of hardware.



Xbox Series does not have such a slot. They opted for a proprietary option that resembles a PS2 memory card that just slots in for convenience and ease of use.





The 1TB Xbox card retails for $199.99. A good 1TB SSD like the one I pictured above had an average cost of $70-80 until the last 8-9 months or so when the market shifted. You get budget options for $40-50. That same Samsung 990 SSD is now $219.99 on Amazon, which explains why didn't see a big price difference when you searched. The reason the Xbox card hasn't seen a commensurate increase in price is because it's proprietary - it can only be used for the Xbox and nothing else. Data centers are not trying to gobble them up.

So for the first 5 years or so, people were rightfully upset about the prospect of paying over double price for a worse product with less applications. But now the proprietary nature of the Xbox option has kinda insulated it from price increases. For the same price I'd still much rather have an M.2 NVME because I could always repurpose it into an extra PC drive, drop it in an enclosure for an external SSD, etc etc


These component price increases are insane. Just for reference from when I built my latest PC in 2024:

Primary drive: Samsung 9100 Pro 4TB SSD. I paid $369.99, it's now $799.99
Secondary drive: Samsung 990 Pro 2TB SSD (secondary drive). I paid $169.99, it's now $369.99
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 64GB (2x32). I paid $209.99. it's now $929.99

I also built my own external SSD by dropped a M.2 into an enclosure. Western Digital Black 4TB SSD. I paid $269.99, it's now $695

Insanity