Are Gaming Chairs worth the hype and should you buy one?
Gaming accessory lists are never complete unless they include a gaming chair. But what is a gaming chair, and are they a worthy purchase?
Plenty of focus nowadays is put on the look and feel of gaming and esports merchandise. From RGB lighting to desk configurations and entire environment setups, gaming products are evolving at an exponential rate. Gaming chairs are not a new addition to the market, but the demand has sky rocketd in the past two years.
Esports leagues and Twitch streamers alike have embraced gaming chairs as part of their branding and partnership process. Multiple brands now offer custom branded and stylized chairs for consumers on top of their regular products.
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What is a gaming chair?
The most basic definition of a gaming chair is “a racing-inspired office chair.” These will often look like the bucket-style seats you see in track-oriented vehicles, sometimes complete with holes for racing harnesses.
Gaming chairs are usually made out of some kind of leather dressed in various color schemes like red and black or blue and black. Sometimes they’ll include accessories meant to increase the gamer’s comfort like a neck pillow or back pillows.
They’re the chairs that are often front and center in streamers’ videos as they usually sponsor said streamer. Some popular brands of gaming chairs include DXRacer, Secretlab, and Dreamseat.
What are the benefits of a gaming chair?
While gaming chairs are often just bought for their looks or design, they do have certain benefits if used right. Since the manufacturers know that their target audience usually spends hours upon hours sitting in these chairs and playing video games, comfort is their number one priority.
Often these chairs have better lumbar support than typical office chairs. They also have several adjustable features, including armrests, backrests, and the chair’s overall height. These features ensure that all weights and sizes will be comfortable on the chair for long gaming sessions. These features combined also give gamers better posture and more comfort than a regular office chair that was not built for gaming.
Take it from popular streamer Shroud, and his views on gaming chairs below:
What features are luxury or a necessity?
Certain features will be a necessity when shopping for a gaming chair. First off is the price. Some gaming chairs can be more expensive than others. That is all based on either brand name, features, or both.
After you’ve decided on a chair you can afford, make sure it fits your specific use case. Are you going to be using it only for gaming or something else as well? Do its adjustable components fit your particular height and weight? There are also different types of gaming chairs like rockers, bean bags, or pedestal chairs that each serve their purpose.
Third, check the reviews. What does the community have to say about this chair? Oftentimes, reviews for gaming chairs are also written by reputable websites who test the chair thoroughly before writing their review.
Then there are the luxury aspects. These features aren’t imperative to the chair’s comfort but are nice to have if they’re available and the budget permits. Does the color scheme fit your environment? What is the material? Is it fancy, aesthetic leather, or the more commonplace but durable fabric?
Is there a drastic difference between low and top-tier options?
Buyers often believe that if something is more expensive, then it is also a higher quality product than one that is cheaper; that is not always the case, especially when it comes to gaming chairs. When looking at such gaming chairs online, it becomes evident that a lot of chairs have the same design but with vastly different prices.
Many different chair companies are selling very similar, if not the same model of chair. Make sure you look at all the different options, and if it seems like you’re paying more for just a logo, you probably are. This is called “private labeling,” which is very similar to how NVIDIA and AMD make GPUs, but other companies like MSI, ASUS, EVGA, and others then sell that GPU under their brand name. In the gaming chair world, companies can go to the main chair manufacturer, order a bunch of chairs in bulk, stick their logo on it, and name their price.
Even though it’s a safer bet to stick to well-known brands, budgets don’t always allow for that. If that’s the case, shopping around for the same chair from a different brand might be the choice to make.
Should you buy a gaming chair?
It all comes down to how much time you spend in front of your device. If you dedicate more then 10-15 hours a week to the screen you should consider buying a chair that supports your lumbar spine and keeps you comfortable. Depending on what you spend your time on, different chairs should be your focus.
If you plan to showcase your chair on a Twitch stream or feel like supporting a specific esports team or brand, there are plenty of options to choose from. If you dedicate your time to esports betting or office work and occasional gaming go for a more budget option.
There are plenty of reviews and Youtube reviewers for every single chair coming out on the market.
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