While it might not have generated quite the record sales that the PS5 and Switch 2 have been clocking up since their respective releases, there’s no doubt that the Xbox Series X and S have been beloved in plenty of households since their release five years ago.
Microsoft’s most powerful console ever and its little sibling have brought the top-class deal that is Game Pass to a whole heap of gamers, but that doesn’t mean they’re the finished article straight out of the box. There’s always room for a great accessory to make things even better, so if you know a big Xbox gamer and want to make their Christmas special, you should check out this guide.
T3’s Top 3
WD_Black
C50 512GB Expansion Card
The Xbox Series X comes with a decent amount of storage, but there’s always room for more, and the Series S fills up even more quickly. This expansion card isn’t cheap, but it’s the best way to get more storage for your recipient’s console, and will put a smile on their face for sure.
SteelSeries
Arctis Nova 7X Wireless Gen 2
This is the best-value headset on the market right now, for me – it sounds phenomenal, and is super comfortable to wear, with 50 hours of battery life on a charge and a totally hideable microphone. Just make sure you buy the “7X” version, as that X denotes its compatibility with Xbox consoles (and it’ll work with everything else, too).
Scuf
Instinct Pro Performance Series Wireless Xbox Controller
Xbox makes its own pro controllers annoyingly pricy, so for similar money I’d get this one from Scuf instead, which features better back buttons, swappable profiles and (crucially) instant triggers for super-quick response times in shooters. It won’t be as good for racing games, but that might be completely fine with you.
Which Xbox accessory should you gift?
The good news for you is that I’ve picked the above three options quite carefully, such that I think any of them would make a killer gift for someone who plays Xbox games a lot. That said, you might want to know more about each and my reasoning for picking them, to help you decide on which is best for you.
The WD_Black SSD expansion card solves a common problem for modern gamers – running out of storage space. New games are often dozens upon dozens of gigabytes to store, with some like Call of Duty running at over 100GB if you install add-ons, and that gets unsustainable, so if they complain about this often, then a C50 drive could be a dynamite gift.
A headset, meanwhile, is the single biggest upgrade you can make to your gaming in terms of immersion, and it’s a game-changer for clearer audio and better online communication. SteelSeries makes my favourite headsets, and this mid-range option is the best value right now, so if they don’t have a headset, it’s a surefire winner.
Finally, you can’t game on Xbox without using a controller, and Scuf’s custom controllers are some of the best around. For an Xbox gamer who wants to get better at some specific games, it could make their life way easier thanks to extra buttons and better build quality. It’s a pricy gift, for sure, but one an aspiring competitive player will love.
