Someone at Microsoft loved the PS Vita so much, he decided to take the worst aspect of that handheld and put it on the upcoming Xbox Series X.

I am referring to the new console’s method of expanding its hard disk drive. You’re going to run out of whatever TBs you have left in your console, so Microsoft introduced a costly new solution for players to upgrade their storage. According to a recent Digital Foundry report, the Xbox Series X uses a system called Velocity Architecture, where the SSD and IO system works to provide additional benefits for Xbox games.

Basically, your additional game storage becomes additional memory to make stuff load faster and more efficiently while saving CPU power. The catch? The console will run off a proprietary custom 1TB NVMe Solid State Drive.

1TB may not be enough, so Microsoft decided to provide a slot for expandable storage. You can’t just plug in any hard drive; you need to use a Microsoft-branded proprietary expansion unit. So far, we know the external drive is Seagate-branded.

No price has been set yet, but I’ll bet you if it’s anything like PlayStation Vita’s way of handling memory cards, it won’t be cheap. Guess we’ll find out if it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg when the system is out this Holiday, and even then we’re not too sure about that window thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Image credit: Digital Foundry