Xbox One external game storage 'coming soon'
While he doesn't give an exact date, Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb says support for games stored on external hard drives is coming to the Xbox One.
Microsoft is working to bring external storage support to the Xbox One, Xbox Live Director of Programming Larry Hryb, better known as "Major Nelson," has confirmed.
Responding to a question Reddit earlier this week, Hryb said several updates are in the works for the console but that "external game storage is coming soon." He added that he would have to check whether the console will also support media files, such as music and videos, stored on an external hard drive.
While the timing is somewhat vague, this is still is good news for gamers who decried the console's lack of external storage last year when the Xbox One launched. Microsoft's latest game console comes with 500GB of onboard storage. While that might be sufficient for some gamers, those in the "core" segment believe it won't cut muster. In addition to game titles, the Xbox One can store other media on its built-in storage, which quickly takes up the limited space.
The Xbox 360 featured external game storage, which made its exclusion from the Xbox One a surprise to gamers. Last year, Hryb said that it would be made available eventually to the Xbox One, but he couldn't confirm when. He said at the time that it was on the list of updates that would come to the Xbox One.
The big question for gamers now, however, is how much storage will be allowed. The Xbox 360 limited external game storage to 32GB. Hryb said on Reddit that he did not know if such a limit would be placed on the Xbox One, and if so, what that limit would be.
CNET has contacted Microsoft for comment on Hryb's statements. We will update this story when we have more information.
Microsoft shares are down .9 percent to $40.64 in early trading on Friday.
(Via Polygon)