Why are gaming chairs so expensive?
Can the costs actually be justified?
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Gaming chairs seem tempting, don’t they? Fun designs, reportedly outstanding comfort, even RGB lighting?
You cast your eyes down to look at the drab office chair you found on the street a couple of years ago and think it’s time for a change.
Black Friday is back, and with it comes huge savings on some of the market’s most popular gaming and tech products. We’ll be covering all the best deals in more details over in our deals hub, but if you haven’t got time to read through those, why not see our top picks below.
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ASUS TUF NVIDIA RTX 5080
Was $1599
Now $1199
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ASUS TUF RTX 5070 Ti
Was $999
Now $849
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Samsung Odyssey OLED G6
Was $899
Now $649
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TCL 43S250R Roku TV 2023
Was $279
Now $199
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iBUYPOWER Y40 Gaming PC
Was $2,299
Now $1,819
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Samsung Odyssey G9 (G95C)
Was $1,299
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Alienware Area-51 gaming laptop
Was $3,499
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Samsung 77-inch OLED S95F
Was $4,297
Now $3,497
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ASUS ROG Strix G16
Was $1,499
Now $1,199
*Prices and savings subject to change. Click through to get the current prices.
So you start googling. Maybe you search for Secretlab, Vertagear, or maybe even noblechairs. Your heart then sinks when you realize you can’t get anything for less than $400, which would make it one of the most expensive bits of your gaming setup.
So why are gaming chairs so expensive? How can a piece of furniture command such a large price? Well, there are a few things at play here.
Secretlab Titan EVO 2022 Series
Height range (Medium Size)
5’6″ – 6’0″
Maximum load
286lb/129kg
Seat width
56cm
Tilt-lock?
Yes
Height adjustment range
75mm
Why are gaming chairs so expensive? The ‘gamer tax’
You might have noticed that stuff like gaming keyboards, gaming mice, gaming monitors, etc are all priced far higher than their non-gaming counterparts.
You could argue that this is because these products are more purpose-built, offering higher performance than the normal alternatives.
This is true to an extent, you find that gaming keyboards feel nicer, and gaming mice are more comfortable in the hand, but that’s not the whole story.
Vertagear PL4800 gaming chair
Max load
163kg/360lbs
Recommended height
175cm-198cm/5’9″-6’6″
Height adjustability
1355mm-1430mm/53.3″-56.2″
The rest of the story is provided by a nebulous pricing convention known as ‘gamer tax’. This isn’t literal taxation, instead referring to things branded for gaming being inexplicably more expensive than they otherwise would be.
By and large, it’s true. You can quite easily get a set of headphones offering better sound quality than a gaming headset for the same price.
We aren’t really sure where it came from, buts certainly part of the reason that gaming chairs are so expensive.
noblechairs Epic Copper Edition gaming chair
Max load
265lbs/120kg
Backrest angle range
90° to 135°
Annoyingly, the same performance benefits we mentioned above can’t really apply to furniture, however, that’s not to say that gaming chairs are always bad, but you really do have to shell out for them.
