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Reportedly, The Coalition used the Xbox Series S’s internal SSD as backing storage for selected game data—not as a replacement for physical RAM. Data could be moved into the console’s system memory when needed. Video Games Chronicle (VGC), reporting on a Digital Foundry interview on October 5, 2026, says the approach helped the studio manage the Series S’s memory limits while developing Gears of War: E-Day. It did not turn the SSD into RAM, and it is not a storage upgrade players can install to add memory.
What “SSD as makeshift RAM” means
RAM is fast working memory for data a game needs readily available. An SSD can hold much more data, but it is slower to access. The reported technique uses the SSD as backing storage for selected game data, then moves that data into actual system RAM when the game needs it. This is a software and game-engine approach to managing limited memory—not a hardware change that increases the console’s installed RAM.
VGC reports that The Coalition used the Series S internal SSD to hold detailed city data, selecting data that could be transferred into RAM without an unacceptable slowdown during play. The report describes this as a way to work around the console’s memory constraint; the SSD itself did not become faster memory.
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VGC reports that Xbox Series S has 10 GB of RAM, compared with 16 GB on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. According to the outlet’s account of the interview, using a couple of gigabytes of SSD storage made around one gigabyte of usable system memory available. Those are reported figures for this development approach, not a general formula for converting SSD capacity into RAM or an independently verified benchmark.
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VGC also reports that The Coalition removed Lumen-based reflections to maintain a 60-frames-per-second target on Series S. That detail matters: the memory technique was one part of fitting the game to the console, not a guarantee that an SSD trick alone delivered 60 fps. The reported result involved a visual compromise as well.
Can an Xbox SSD upgrade add RAM?
No. The account describes a technique implemented by the game developer using the Series S’s internal SSD. It does not say that an external SSD or storage expansion card can increase system RAM or reproduce the game’s memory management. Adding storage gives a console more space for games and files; it does not change the amount of physical memory available to the system.
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VGC attributes the approach to The Coalition’s development of E-Day. The available report does not provide enough implementation detail to treat it as a player-configurable setting or a general method for improving other games.
How this fits the PC version’s technology
In a July 14, 2026 Xbox Wire article, The Coalition’s Kate Rayner described E-Day as built with Unreal Engine 5 and DirectX 12 and discussed PC features including hardware ray tracing, NVIDIA DLSS 4.5, NVIDIA Reflex, AMD FSR, Unreal Engine TSR, Intel XeSS and Advanced Shader Delivery on compatible hardware. Those are PC rendering and performance technologies; they are separate from the reported Series S SSD-backed data technique.
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The Xbox Wire article said the game was scheduled to launch on October 6, 2026, and listed Xbox Series X|S and PC offerings. Its PC feature list does not independently confirm the Series S memory method. The available reporting also does not establish a full Series X-versus-Series S performance comparison for E-Day.
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