Young gamers play Xbox at Microsoft's new Oxford Circus store ahead of its opening in London
The upcoming Xbox Series X event might disappoint expectant fans hoping to know about the console's price. (Photo: REUTERS/Simon Dawson)

Microsoft finally unveiled its next-generation gaming console Xbox Series X at the recent The Game Awards 2019. Following the unveiling, Microsoft representatives started sharing and talking about some aspects of the powerful gaming console. It is expected that the Redmond-based tech giant would like to describe what's inside its next-generation console, especially the Solid State Drive (SSD), which is getting a lot of attention recently.

Xbox Partner Director of Program Management Jason Ronald recently talked about the goals of the company, particularly on the SSD in a recent interview with Gamespot. It is really about providing developers with tools and capabilities to use Xbox Series X in the most efficient way possible, says the Xbox Partner Director. He also points out that the Solid State Drive is one clear example.

The company invested in NVME SSDs, and it is giving developers a lot of new capabilities to try and eliminate load times, Ronald adds. Current generation and even previous generation gaming consoles relied on mechanical hard drives that are very cheap to manufacture instead of investing in costly solid-state drives. But, for next-generation gaming consoles, both Sony and Microsoft stepped up and equipped their respective consoles with SSDs.

The massive leap is going to impact the way users enjoy their games significantly. A solid-state drive basically offers five times the speed for read or write times than a hard drive. But, an outstanding solid-state drive could be 10 to 15 times faster. The potentials for Xbox developers to use this surplus speed could not be understated.

Microsoft, through Xbox Series X, is providing a chance to try and virtually eliminate load times, reveals Ronald. The Xbox Partner Director of Program Management further explains:

"If you think about a massive open-world game and actually want to fast-travel or teleport from one end of the world to the other, I shouldn't have this loading experience [that takes] me out of the immersion."

What Ronald is saying is not necessarily what is going to happen, says Gamerant. PCs have high-speed solid-state drives for years, and although they are fast, there are still issues with loading times. Microsoft has definitely optimized the Xbox Series X for gaming, and it will undoubtedly make a difference. However, at the end of the day, it is still the developers that will make the final decision.

Despite its power, Xbox Series X can only do so much. It's still the developers who will choose what to prioritize.