I have spent years selling both office and gaming chairs, so I have a ton of experience with both types. This gives me a unique perspective on the differences and why you might choose one over the other. Which style is right for you will depend on how you will be using the chair and what features are a priority for you. Let’s take a closer look at the similarities and differences between these two types of chairs.
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Gaming Chair vs Office Chair Links
1. Gaming Chair Bucket Seat
The multi-colored bucket seat is one of the main reasons why gaming chairs have become so popular. This is not something you will see on the office chair market. It gives the chair a unique look, but it is also the thing that prevents almost every gaming chair from being ergonomic.
I have to admit that the overall concept of the bucket seat is cool. It mimics a car bucket seat for a more immersive experience. When you add sleek color combinations, fancy stitching, and a team logo, an office chair cannot match this look. However, it doesn’t offer much when it comes to a purely functional perspective.
Racing seats are not designed to be comfortable. Rather they are engineered for safety and ripping around corners on a racetrack. In fact, a racing seat is far less comfortable than a seat in your average sedan or SUV.
Chairs are designed from racing seats with hard side bolsters that are meant to protect you but are unnecessary in your home or office. They just make the chair more limited because you don’t want to come into contact with the bolsters. This makes it impossible to sit in the chair cross-legged.
The only exception to this rule that I have found, is the Secretlab Titan Evo 2022. They made a smart move by changing the bolsters so that they are only padding and more similar to a typical car seat. The seat is soft and you can use every inch.
2. Gaming vs Office Chair Price Range
There is a huge price range in both gaming and office chairs, but there are some other factors to consider when it comes to overall value. When you compare a similarly priced gaming and office chair, you will typically find that the office chair offers much more functionality. The main reason for this is that a lot of the cost of a gaming chair goes into the look, including, multi-color design, fancy stitching, and team logo. These details cost money and sacrifices need to be made in order to sell an equally priced product.
The second thing to consider is that the price cap on office chairs is much higher than on gaming chairs. For example, I would consider the Secretlab Titan Evo 2022 to be the best gaming chair I have seen. It retails for $549 with the standard upholstery option.
For $499, you can purchase a mid-tier office chair like the EuroTech Vera, Hayworth Soji, or Steelcase Series 1. The office chair category gives you the opportunity to get into products that are much higher quality and in a completely different ballpark than the Titan Evo. Chairs like the Haworth Fern, Steelcase Gesture, and Herman Miller Embody are more expensive, but offer features and comfort that you just can’t get in a gaming chair.
3. Backrest
Being able to change the angle on the backrest of a gaming chair so that you are almost completely flat is one thing office chairs can’t compete with. This is something that I don’t find to be practical because I can’t watch my screen once I get past a certain angle. I would argue that most ergonomic office chairs will get you to a comfortable viewing point.
The gaming backrest also includes some sort of pillow for lumbar support like in the GT Racing chair shown here. The pillow is simply not enough to provide correct support. They don’t tend to hold their position, and they will eventually go flat. This is much different than the curved backrest we see on almost all ergonomics chairs no matter what the price. This design helps to support the natural curve in your back. Many ergonomic chairs come with additional lumbar support systems that are adjustable.
If you want to lay all the way back to take a nap, I can see how the flat position may be useful. Otherwise, I think people are putting too much value on this feature. I don’t see a ton of use for it, especially if the chair is in a home office environment where you typically will have a bed or couch within a few steps of your workstation.
The second major problem with gaming backrests is the limited range of motion, due to the side bolsters and the hard metal frame. This is one of the main differences from ergonomic chairs which are moving towards a more open back and flexible frames. The side bolsters will often push your shoulders forward and you have almost no range of movement. This is exactly why I can’t get comfortable in a gaming chair. I feel constricted and locked in place, especially when compared to an ergonomic chair.
4. Recline
One fundamental difference between office and gaming chairs is the way that they recline. Almost all ergonomic chairs use a synchro-tilt mechanism which means that the back moves a bit further back than the seat when you recline in the chair. This puts you in a better ergonomic position through the entire recline rather than keeping the back and the seat at the same angle as in a gaming chair.
Due to the limitations of the bucket seat design, almost all gaming chairs have a basic center-tilt mechanism. This system makes it very difficult to recline. The range is limited and your knees will come up as you go back. I really hate this recline functionality and it almost makes it so you don’t have a recline option.
If you go with a higher-end gaming chair, like two of the Secretlab chairs, you can get a knee tilt mechanism, which has a smoother, easier motion and it doesn’t bring your legs up as drastically as the center tilt. However, this still isn’t as well designed as the synchro-tilt for proper ergonomics and extended sitting times.
5. Adjustments
Along with a better recline, office chairs tend to be more adjustable overall when compared to similarly priced gaming chairs. Even when you look at the best office chair, the Titan Evo, it doesn’t have some of the functionalities that you would find in a Hayworth Soji. The adjustment range on a gaming chair is going to be smaller. A good example of this is the arm adjustments on the Soji and the Titan Evo. They both come with four-way adjustability, but the range on the Soji is much more generous.
Some of the adjustments we see on office chairs that you simply won’t see on gaming chairs include forward seat tilt, back height adjustment, seat depth adjustment, and adjustable headrests. While gaming chairs tend to have a high-back design with a pillow, the headrest isn’t very adjustable. The strap design allows you to move it a little, but it is pretty terrible when it comes to holding the pillow in place. In addition, the pillow will go flat after about 30 minutes of use.
Office chairs offer a lot more headrest options to choose from whether it is a built-in design or an adjustable option. There are solid options at every price point. A good example is the Clatina Mellet. This is a $200 chair with one of the best headrests I have ever seen. It is padded, adjustable, and super comfortable, especially for the price.
The final adjustment that is the biggest glaring flaw in the design of gaming chairs is the lack of seat depth adjustment. Because of the bucket seat model, you cannot slide the seat back and forth, which limits your ability to make sure that the chair fits you properly. When I sit in the Titan Evo, the seat is a little too long while the GTR Racing seat is too short, and there is nothing I can do about it.
Bottom Line on Gaming vs Office Chairs
While gaming chairs are nice for some people, I think that an equally priced office chair will almost always provide better value, especially when it comes to functionality, comfort, and quality.
