512GB Xbox Series X/S storage expansion cards are reportedly set to be announced

Promotional retail materials for an upcoming 512GB Seagate expansion card for Xbox Series X/S have reportedly been spotted.

Windows Central reports that it has been shown promotional materials that have started arriving at US retailers, suggesting an official reveal may be as early as this week.

The materials include empty boxes advertising a 512GB version of Seagate’s Xbox storage expansion card, with a message saying “coming soon”.

A 512GB version of the expansion card could provide a slightly more affordable alternative to Xbox Series X/S owners who want to expand their console’s storage but don’t want to pay $220 / £220 for a 1TB card.

The news follows a report last month from French website Xbox Squad, which claimed a source gave it information on a 500GB version of the card, which is reportedly being sold to suppliers for €125.71 before tax. Xbox Squad suggests this means the retail price would be between €149-169.

The site also claims that shortly after its report was initially published, it also received a screenshot of an internal listing at French retailer Micromania, which appears to list the 500GB card for €154.99 and a release date of November 14.

The Seagate expansion card is currently the only way to expand the console’s storage for native Series X/S games. Xbox One and backwards compatible Xbox 360 and Xbox games can still be stored on an external USB drive, but they can’t run Series X/S games because their read/write speeds are far slower than the console’s internal SSD.

This is particularly problematic for Xbox Series S owners, as the console only has slightly more than 350GB of storage due to system files.

In an Xbox blog posted last year, Xbox director of program management Jason Ronald explained why the 1TB Seagate expansion card was so expensive.

“The Xbox Velocity Architecture is a key innovation of our next generation consoles, delivering unprecedented speed and performance enabling transformative gaming experiences never before possible on console,” he responded.

“This level of consistent, sustained performance requires advanced components which comes at a higher cost than traditional hard drives or SSDs often found in PCs.

“By partnering with an industry leader in Seagate, we worked together to deliver an expandable storage solution which delivers identical performance at the lowest cost possible and available this holiday.”

Last month a Chinese modder claimed to have converted an internal SSD into an external clone of the Seagate expansion card, and theorised that other non-proprietary SSDs could work too.