Gaming Chairs - Are They A Scam? (Yeah, More or Less)
You know ’em, you’ve seen ’em, and hey, maybe you’re even sitting in one as you read this – the ‘gaming chair’.
If you’re in gaming or eSports in particular, these types of chairs are impossible to miss out on. You almost feel obligated to own one if you’re a gamer or creator.
But are these gaming chairs really that great for gaming, or even just sitting in, for that matter? What’s the added value of a gaming chair? And should you get one?
First things first – let’s talk about the origins of gaming chairs.
The Origins of Gaming Chairs
As you might have noticed, gaming chairs look a lot like car seats. It’s also no coincidence that the first gaming chairs were aptly named ‘DXRacer’ and ‘Need for Seat’. These chairs were originally used (and marketed) for racing simulators, to simulate the feel of really being inside a racing car while playing. But the design caught on, and found its way to the general gaming population.
It’s interesting to know too, that they started to market these chairs to gamers in the mid-2000’s, when the automobile market tanked. Because of this market crash, companies that manufactured car parts, including seats, started to have troubles too. This meant that they had to seek out new markets, and so they basically just added wheels to their chairs and starting selling them to gamers.
Not much later, people started to use them at eSports events. You can’t see a Twitch streamer without one either, which further fuels the hype. These seats then started to inspire copycats and competition, and thus, an entire market was born.
Why Gaming Chairs Are Bad For You
The inherent design flaws of gaming chairs
This origin story also reflects in the design of the seat, which basically looks like a large car seat with little space for movement due to the side bolsters. This type of helps protect drivers when taking sharp turns, by keeping them in place (obviously you don’t want to swivel left and right in your car seat). But in an office environment, this doesn’t really tend to happen. (okay, I don’t know what kind of crazy shit you pull at home, but let’s assume)
There are a few other inherent design flaws why your ‘gaming’ chair is not the best option for long hours of gaming:
- This type of seat also removes your ability to move freely
- There’s a lack of adjustability of the seat, which means ‘you have to fit the chair’ instead of the other way around.
- Higher-end seats come in different sizes, but they’re still not quite adjustable
What does ‘ergonomic’ actually mean?
Gaming chairs are often advertised as being ‘ergonomic’. But what does that even mean?
Ergonomic is often just a buzzword that is (mis-)used in about every office chair. You will probably never find an office chair on Amazon or some other webstore without the mention that it’s supposedly ‘ergonomic’.
Usually, what sellers mean by this is that the chair is adjustable in some way – or that it’s pretty comfortable.
Unfortunately, ‘ergonomic’ is not a protected criterium. Anyone can describe their products as ergonomic. You could sell ergonomic apples and get away with it.
However, there are a few objective criteria that you need to take into account when qualifiying a chair as ‘ergonomic’. We can assure you, gaming chairs most definitely don’t meet these.
Ergonomic means: ‘the ability to sit in a proper position for hours without causing extreme amounts of stress and/or discomfort on your joints, ligaments and muscles’.
Some of the basic criteria that you need to take into account to determine if a gaming chair is ‘ergonomic’:
- Does the seat provide adequate comfort?
- Does the chair support the body?
- Is the chair adjustable?
But let’s go a bit in depth on different elements that determine whether a chair is ergonomic, and how well a gaming seat does for that criterium.
Positioning
For a chair to be ergonomic, your knees, feet and ankles should all be at a 90° angle. This means that the seat needs to have a proper seat height and depth, adjusted to your body. There should also be about 2 cm between your knees and the edge of the seat.
An ergonomic chair will allow your arms to hang freely at your sides, without your arms being pushed up by the armrest, or the elbows being extended outwards.
Adjustability
Gaming in a chair that isn’t adjustable, is like having every football player wear the same shoe size. For some, the chair might fit like a glove, but for others, sitting inside of it will cause terrible pains.
Aside from reclining all the way down, gaming chairs are very limited in their adjustability. The height of the chair can be adjusted, as well as the armrests, but usually they can only be moved up or down. But the seat depth can’t be adjusted, which means you have to fit the chair, instead of the other way around.
If the gaming chair features a pillow to support your back, then usually this pillow can be moved up or down as well, but even then, the pillow easily moves away from the position you set it in.
Higher-end seats usually come in different sizes, but even then, none of those is adjustable by itself.
An office chair, because of its adjustability, is going to fit a larger amount of people.
Back and neck support
Obviously, the chair needs to provide the proper support to your back. Since our backs aren’t truly straight, but have an S-shaped curve, the back of the chair needs to mimic that, so that every inch of our back is supported when you’re sitting down.
This is where gaming chairs fail hard. In the cheaper models, there’s usually only a pillow to support your back. However, this pillow doesn’t stay in position and will be pushed flat after a few hours of sitting, so any support provided will dissipate after a while.
More premium models, such as the Secretlab Titan, feature a built in lumbar support that you can adjust to your personal back shape with a switch. This is already a step up from regular gaming chairs. However, even in a Secretlab chair, the mid-back to upper-back portion of the chair is still completely flat, which is not a good thing.
If the chair features a headrest, this has to reflect the curved shape of our neck as well. Again, gaming chairs are usually only fitted with a pillow that just flattens completely after 30 minutes.
If a gaming chair brand claims it has ‘good back support’, then they are outright lying to you. This is not true, it just a marketing claim. And this is embedded into the flawed design of these types of chairs, there aren’t any modifications that can nullify this.
If you want a gaming chair with good back support, it needs to have an S-shaped curve, and not a straight back wall with a weak pillow.
Freedom of movement / Breathability
A good chair also needs to allow for enough movement and breathability. Ever been in a gaming chair for long periods of time? Those things get hot as hell, due to the form of the chair and the materials used – fake leather for example – the heat can’t dissipate.
The bucket seat, by design, has a very rigid metal frame, which prevents you from moving around and shifting and changing positions in a comfortable way. Think about it really, why would you want a chair that restricts your ability to move?
Conclusion – The Bucket Seat Design Is The Real Problem
There are simply too many inherent flaws in the bucket-seat design for a gaming chair to ever qualify as truly ergonomic. The shape restricts movement, forces you into a fixed posture, and fails to support your spine the way a real ergonomic chair should.
On top of that, most gaming chairs offer no genuine innovation. Nearly all of them come from the same handful of factories in China and are essentially the exact same chair with different colors, logos, and branding layered on top.
This becomes even more misleading when you consider how aggressively these chairs are marketed as “ergonomic” solutions for long gaming sessions. That claim is false. Gaming chairs are, in many ways, a huge scam—especially when you realize how much more functional and supportive a proper office chair is at the same price.
A true ergonomic chair almost always outperforms a gaming chair in comfort, build quality, durability, and long-term health. During long sessions, an ergonomic chair keeps your spine aligned and distributes pressure evenly, while a gaming chair slowly forces your body into awkward positions.
At first, you might dismiss the discomfort as harmless soreness, but over time it compounds. Eventually, that strain can turn into real back pain—sometimes severe enough that you’ll need physical therapy. It’s not a question of if this will happen, but when, especially if you sit for many hours a day.
Some chairs, like the Herman Miller Embody, Mavix M9, or Fractal Refine, blend ergonomic engineering with a gaming aesthetic. These work far better because they were designed as ergonomic chairs first and styled for gamers second. But even then, you pay a premium—what many call the “gaming tax.”
In the end, a gaming chair may feel comfortable right out of the box, but the poor posture it enforces will strain your muscles and eventually lead to pain. A well-engineered ergonomic chair remains the healthier, smarter, and more cost-effective choice every single time.
Value for Money – Gaming Chairs vs. Ergonomic Chairs
The Gaming Tax
Every time you take a normal product and slap the word “gaming” on it, the price jumps. With mice, keyboards, and headsets, this usually makes sense — you get extra buttons, better sensors, or useful features. But with gaming chairs, that added value simply isn’t there.
Bucket-seat chairs look cool and mimic the feel of a racing car, which is great if you’re playing racing sims. Outside of that niche, the design becomes completely impractical. The raised bolsters restrict your movement, the seat forces you into a fixed position, and the overall shape works against good posture rather than supporting it.
On top of that, most gaming chairs still offer:
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Minimal real back support, which leads to pain over time
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Very limited adjustability, meaning the chair must fit you, not the other way around
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Shorter warranties than equally priced office chairs
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Lower-quality materials, despite flashy colors and branding
When you compare dollar-for-dollar, ergonomic office chairs almost always deliver more comfort, better adjustability, and far better long-term health outcomes. You’re paying for engineering instead of aesthetics.
And the health consequences are real. Sit in a gaming chair long enough, and back issues become almost guaranteed. Those posture problems cost far more in the long run — both in medical bills and in daily discomfort.
Price comparisons between gaming chairs and office chairs
The price of gaming chairs starts out at about €100 for the really cheap ones, but usually cap out at €600-700.
However, there is much more variation in prices between office chairs, which means that the most expensive office chairs could easily be at 2 to 3 times more expensive than the most expensive gaming chair.
However, for €600-700, the top-tier price of a gaming chair like the Secretlab Titan or the AndaSeat, you can get an ergonomic office chair that’s way better for long duration gaming sessions in terms of back comfort and health.
Even at a price point of 150 euro, you can find low-budget office chairs like the Ticova that just blow gaming chairs of that price level out of the water.
On the other side of the spectrum, we have the top of the line ergonomic chair models, like the Herman Miller Aeron. And it’s true, real, true ergonomic chairs like these can cost over €1000.
But this price is validated by a few key facts:
- they are extremely adjustable
- they’re backed by millions of dollars worth of research
- they are able to accomodate 95 % of the general population
- they’re extremely durable and covered by extremely long warranties
- can last up to 20 years, so the cost per year will actually be lower than a regular office or gaming chair, which you’d have to replace every 2-3 years
For example, a Herman Miller chair is covered by a warranty of 12 years, whereas a Secretlab Titan chair has a standard warranty of 3 years (which they do extend to 5 years if you opt-in to their scammy marketing tactics by sharing a picture of your purchase of social media).
The Sweet Spot – Ergonomic Gaming Chairs
In recent years, something interesting has happened in the gaming chair world. The big players in ergonomics — the companies that normally engineer chairs for 8-hour office days and corporate wellness programs — have noticed the massive growth of the gaming market. And, naturally, they also want in on your money
So they began creating “gaming chairs” built from an ergonomics-first perspective, not an aesthetic-first one.
In other words: they took their proven ergonomic designs, kept all the science and adjustability intact… and then dressed them up to look like gaming chairs.
It’s the best of both worlds on paper:
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actual spinal support
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serious adjustability
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no silly bucket seat
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and a gamer-friendly aesthetic for your setup or stream
These chairs are built with ergonomics-first in mind, and are then made to mimic the look of gaming chairs.
Not only do these chairs sell at the same price point as the Secretlab Titan, they are also much more comfortable, features much better ergonomic adjustments, and are in general just much better built chairs.
Examples of chairs like these are:
- the Mavix M9
- the Fractal Refine
- the Respawn Spire
So if you’re looking for a gaming chair that’s actually good for your back, and you have the money to spend on one of these, you should definitely do it. It’s very likely people in general are going to move away from the bucket seat design to buy chairs like these instead anyway.
Getting the Right Chair for Your Goal
So you’re in the market for a new chair. Which one should you get? The answer depends entirely on your personal goals — but if your priority is ergonomics, then the decision is actually pretty simple.
From a health and back-support standpoint, a well-designed ergonomic office chair will almost always outperform a typical bucket-seat gaming chair at the same price point. You’re paying for engineering, adjustability, and long-term comfort — not flashy colors and a race-car silhouette.
Because of that, it’s rare that we’ll recommend a traditional gaming chair.
But what if you really want the gaming-chair look? Then your best option is an ergonomic office chair that’s been styled to look like a gaming chair. Think of the Herman Miller Embody Gaming Edition. It gives you the aesthetic without sacrificing the science behind real support.
Just be aware: these premium chairs come with a premium price tag. The gaming tax is real.
Is there ever a situation where we’d suggest buying a true gaming chair — the classic racing-style design? Yes, but only with a clear caveat.
If your setup requires the gamer aesthetic for branding purposes — for example, you’re a streamer who wants to match the expectations of your audience — then a gaming chair can make sense. In that case, go ahead and buy one, but at least choose a higher-quality model like the Secretlab Titan.
And only choose this route if you’re not planning to sit in it for more than 1–2 hours per day. (Honestly, even that’s pushing it.)
Premium gaming chairs still aren’t ideal for long sessions, but they do a much better job of compensating for the inherent flaws of the racing-seat design. If the aesthetic is non-negotiable, this is the least harmful way to get it.
Getting the Right Chair for Your Budget
So you’ve decided it’s time for a new chair — great. Whether you’re leaning toward a gaming chair or a more traditional ergonomic office chair, your budget will largely determine what’s realistically available to you. Here’s the simple breakdown.
Low Budget (€150–€400): Go Ergonomic Every Time
If you’re on the lower end of the price spectrum and can’t afford a high-end gaming chair (like the Secretlab Titan), the choice is easy:
👉 Buy a quality ergonomic office chair.
Why?
Because in this price range, gaming chairs tend to prioritize looks over actual support. Office chairs, on the other hand, are built around ergonomics and long-term comfort.
And here’s the kicker:
You can often find refurbished Herman Miller chairs — yes, the ones that normally cost €1,200–€1,400 — for €300–€400, sometimes with a 3–5 year warranty from reputable resellers.
That’s unbeatable value for money.
Even in the very low price ranges, you can get a decent ergonomic chair like the Ticova, which does well enough and will last you a few good years. You can get this one at about €125.
A second-hand Secretlab Titan might show up in this price range too, but keep two things in mind:
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You usually won’t get a warranty.
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Wear and tear on the foam or hydraulics isn’t obvious until you sit in it.
Mid Budget (€450–€650): Titan vs Ergonomics
Once you reach the price point of a brand-new Secretlab Titan, you’re officially in “choice” territory.
If you want the gaming bucket seat aesthetic, then yes — the Titan or its main competitor Andaseat Kaiser are the safest picks. These brands actually invest in build quality, unlike most budget gaming chairs.
If still want a sleek gamer look, but you’re not hung up on the bucket seat design, we do recommend that you get a chair like the Fractal Refine, Mavix M9 or Respawn Spire. These chairs look gamer-y enough, and have superior ergonomics over the Secretlab and the Andaseat.
But if you don’t need the racing-seat look and just want the best comfort for long hours at your desk?
👉 Ergonomic office chairs are still the better buy.
They offer better lumbar support, better adjustability, and better long-term comfort than nearly any gaming chair in this bracket.
High Budget (€1,000+): Top Tier Ergonomics
If you’re aiming for top-tier performance, you’ve now entered the premium class.
Here, you can consider the best possible ergonomic chairs.
These do not feature the bucket seat design, but purely from a health perspective, that need not be a bad thing.
If you’re not hung up on the gaming aesthetic, you could just get a top-tier ergonomic chair in this price range too. In fact, we recommend this option.
Examples of chairs in these categories
- Herman Miller Aeron (if you’re purely in it for the ergonomics)
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Herman Miller x Logitech Embody (basically just an Aeron, reskinned for gamers)
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Steelcase Gesture or Leap (ergonomics-first)
These give you the aesthetics, the engineering, and the long-term comfort — but at a premium price.
If you’re purely chasing ergonomic performance, though, this budget range opens the doors to the absolute best chairs ever made, regardless of “gaming” marketing.
