Support NeoGAF

[truth411]

When the consoles launched there was a debate about Storage solutions. Open Market vs Proprietary,
Basically the arguments boiled down to Price Vs Convenience, at this point the Prices of Nvme M.2 SSDs have come down so much that the debate is effectively over. You can get a 2TB M.2 for far less than $200 now. Less than half the price of Microsoft Proprietary Solution!

Open Market for the Win, this shows why competition matters and benefit Consumers.

WD_BLACK 2TB SN850X NVMe Internal Gaming SSD Solid State Drive - Gen4 PCIe, M.2 2280, Up to 7,300 MB/s - WDS200T2X0E https://a.co/d/6xDsIOv

 

[Thirty7ven]

But pro consumer?!!?!!?

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Agreed. Its why I have yet to upgrade the storage on my Series X.

 

[reinking]

 

[Die Namek Ability]

It was never up for debate. Another thing to consider, i was able to move my 980 pro from my PS5 to my PC since i primarily game there now.

 

[kyliethicc]

 

[JayDucker]

About an hour ago, I was literally looking at an expansion for both my consoles. We all knew this was going to happen but damn! £169 for 2tb on PS5 and £189 for 1tb Xbox was the best I could see. Fucking hell!

 

[StereoVsn]

About an hour ago, I was literally looking at an expansion for both my consoles. We all knew this was going to happen but damn! £169 for 2tb on PS5 and £189 for 1tb Xbox was the best I could see. Fucking hell!

You could do even better for PS5. There have been 2TB drives going for like $150 on US side (plus tax).

Xbox storage prices are way too high.

 

[Topher]

Yeah, that debate has been solved and those of us who said non-proprietary would greatly outpace price drops of proprietary were proven correct. Not sure why it was even debatable. Console history has shown us this to be the case.

 

[jaysius]

Water is wet.

 

[Nothing1234]

It blew my mind people were trying to laugh at Sony for using an industry standard solution. Prices were always going to drop because of the abundance of available options of just using a standard NVME SSD that can also be used in PCs. As a manufacturer of storage devices why would you produce an Xbox proprietary memory card when at most the potential market is tiny compared to PS5 + PC combined? Microsoft knew what they doing with the deal with Seagate, they fucked us.

 

[Unknown?]

People arguing for proprietary probably use a proprietary operating system, so checks out!

 

[Topher]

It blew my mind people were trying to laugh at Sony for using an industry standard solution. Prices were always going to drop because of the abundance of available options of just using a standard NVME SSD that can also be used in PCs. As a manufacturer of storage devices why would you produce an Xbox proprietary memory card when at most the potential market is tiny compared to PS5 + PC combined? Microsoft knew what they doing with the deal with Seagate, they fucked us.

Whatever happened to "Seagate will be the exclusive provider of expansion cards at launch"?


"Seagate will be the exclusive launch partner for these expansion cards, too. "At launch, the Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X will be the only Expansion Card available," reveals a Microsoft spokesperson to The Verge. "We look forward to sharing more details in the future." It's not clear whether Microsoft will have its own branded expansion cards or just how many other third-party drive makers will be able to create expansion cards. More providers will increase competition and drive prices down for consumers, so it would be surprising if Seagate is the only manufacturer after launch."

Never heard any more of that.

Here’s how Xbox Series X removable storage will work

You might need a new expansion card for Xbox Series X optimized games.

www.theverge.com

 

[Pimpbaa]

MS is blatantly price gouging customers with its storage expansions. Fast SSDs are cheaper now than when I bought my 2 TB SSD early last year, but even then fast SSDs were considerable cheaper (and probably the year before that) than than the Xbox Series storage cards. Now the price difference just makes MS look like a bunch of greedy assholes. More people need to be kicking up a stink about this. Paying that much money for what is basically some cheap SSD with no controller or dram that you would find in a cheap notebook is simply ridiculous. On one hand they are giving you too much with Gamepass and on the other they are bending you over backwards for storage.

 

[Celcius]

 

[Deerock71]

I can't say I'm a fan of proprietary storage, even though I've got a 1TB Seagate memory expansion slapped into my Xbox Series S; I paid a fraction of that for my 1TB micro SD card in my Switch.

 

[Neo_game]

PS5 storage expansion is obviously the way to go but the faster SSD barely makes any difference even though theoretically it is twice as fast.

 

[Robbinhood]

Who in their right mind would argue for Proprietary?

If this was reversed, the fallout would have been ugly (see Vita).

 

[Topher]

Who in their right mind would argue for Proprietary?

If this was reversed, the fallout would have been ugly (see Vita).

There were a number of defenders a couple of years ago.

 

[rabbity-thing]

While I congratulate Sony for making the right choice, I'm guessing it was due to some hard learned lessons.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

"But who keeps more than 10 games on their console at all times?"
- someone on GAF, not a week ago

 

[Topher]

"But who keeps more than 10 games on their console at all times?"
- someone on GAF, not a week ago

"I do"
- someone responding on GAF, not a week ago

 

[Fbh]

Can't really think of many instances where "Proprietary" anything has been a better choice, at least as far as gaming goes.

 

[Deerock71]

While I congratulate Sony for making the right choice, I'm guessing it was due to some hard learned lessons.

Their biggest mistake was this was the least hidden of hidden costs in gaming history. With no on-board memory, this was a mandatory purchase.

 

[MALpractice311]

Of course open market won. More options for consumers = better products and lower price. Proprietary never had a chance because it's basically a monopoly. Monopolies mean fewer or no options and the business has sole control over the price, which is all bad for the consumer. This is Economics 101.

 

[truth411]

WD_BLACK 4TB SN850X NVMe Internal Gaming SSD Solid State Drive - Gen4 PCIe, M.2 2280, Up to 7,300 MB/s - WDS400T2X0E https://a.co/d/brs9mj3

Welp! 4TB M.2s are starting to be on sale for under $400. 2X the capacity of Xbox proprietary solution for the same price!

 

[JimboJones]

I wonder if MS will ditch the memory card eventually, they did it before with the Xbox 360.

 

[jaysius]

I wonder if MS will ditch the memory card eventually, they did it before with the Xbox 360.

I mean, if they could they'd need a proprietary converter device to interface with the port, perhaps they could.


Jank version really doesn't work so well.


Also this was fail.

 

[Kilau]

I wonder if MS will ditch the memory card eventually, they did it before with the Xbox 360.

Would require a redesign of the internal components. Which would be complicated with how they split PCIE bus for the internal and add on storage.

A redesign with no port for the $400 expansion card that people have would be awful.

The current card being designed around portability was a mistake. It's a convenience for a tiny group of gamers at the literal expense of everyone.

 

[K' Dash]

Agreed. Its why I have yet to upgrade the storage on my Series X.

Because it's not necessary?

I have all the games I play in the internal SSD, for the rest I have a 4TB hdd attached to it.

This is not a Vita situation.

 

[JimboJones]

Would require a redesign of the internal components. Which would be complicated with how they split PCIE bus for the internal and add on storage.

A redesign with no port for the $400 expansion card that people have would be awful.

The current card being designed around portability was a mistake. It's a convenience for a tiny group of gamers at the literal expense of everyone.

Yeah I dunno if it's feasible on a technical level but just saying it's not unprecedented, it would suck for early adopters but it woud be better for everyone going forward. Up to MS I guess!

 

[phaedrus]

WD_BLACK 4TB SN850X NVMe Internal Gaming SSD Solid State Drive - Gen4 PCIe, M.2 2280, Up to 7,300 MB/s - WDS400T2X0E https://a.co/d/brs9mj3

Welp! 4TB M.2s are starting to be on sale for under $400. 2X the capacity of Xbox proprietary solution for the same price!

Urge to upgrade...rising.

 

[Robb]

Open-market all day, proprietary is the worst.

 

[Kilau]

Yeah I dunno if it's feasible on a technical level but just saying it's not unprecedented, it would suck for early adopters but it woud be better for everyone going forward. Up to MS I guess!

Something might be up, hopefully. MS no longer stocks the expansion cards in their store. Whatever stores have them in stock have had them on discount for a while now. The 1TB for $199 and 2TB for $359. Maybe around "E3" time MS will announce something.

 

[TheDreadLord]

Xbox solution is super convenient. Shame on MS for not even trying to bring new companies to offer it.

 

[Black_Stride]

MS needs to release an OS update that allows people to format M.2 SSDs to be able to work as game launch drives.
The adaptor is just a CF Express, so there is no hardware reason an adaptor wouldnt work because the connections arent proprietary, its just that the SSD wont read as a drive that can launch games unless its a CH SN530.
If they let us format drives to actually launch games we are solid.

 

[Zuzu]

I have two Xbox storage cards but yeah open-market is way better. In my case, the storage cards are convenient because they enable me to quickly and easily transfer games between my two Xboxs. But for a single console, the open-market option is better due to competition and the resulting lower costs.

 

[YOU PC BRO?!]

Honestly, I think storage expansion is a non issue this generation. It wouldn't bother me if there was no option to increase internal storage at all. Games can be transferred to an external usb device to avoid having to re-download. These come in larger capacities and are waaay cheaper.

To answer the OP, in this instance I would say non-propriety is clearly the better solution. Drives can be repurposed if required and competition reduces cost over time. If Microsoft had a faster internal storage solution or something only possible with their propriety tech then that would change things. They don't however so that's that.

 

[RoboFu]

The Xbox problem is that there only one maker. Why is that? . But it created a horrible pricing situation.

 

[MasterCornholio]

I'm still very happy with my NXStorage drive. I highly recommend it.

 

[Ronin_7]

Proprietary for expanded memory is an awful solution, only fanboys could defend such shit but I've seen people who were actually in favor braindead fucks.

 

[Unknown?]

Series consoles are the new Vita!

Semi /s

 

[FalsettoVibe]

Because it's not necessary?

I have all the games I play in the internal SSD, for the rest I have a 4TB hdd attached to it.

This is not a Vita situation.

Good for you I guess? Just because you think it's unnecessary doesn't mean it is. The option exists for a reason. Having an external HDD with a ton of memory great but it's not the same thing. Microsoft's proprietary solution is ridiculously expensive and people have the right to speak about it. That how change happens.

 

[PSYGN]

Nice referral link