It’s easy to get comfy when playing games on the couch but when you’re at your desk, the right chair can make all the difference. Whether you want a chair made from mesh to keep you cool, one with extra padding for additional comfort or one with excellent lumbar support, there are plenty of different options to choose from.
While it’s not as heated of a debate as console vs PC, when it comes to home office furniture, many people wonder if they should opt for one of the best office chairs or one of the best gaming chairs to complete their desk setup.
Gaming chairs are known for their unique look while office chairs tend to blend into their surroundings a bit better. At the same time, office chairs often prioritize ergonomics and adjustability while for the most part, gaming chairs are all about comfort.
What if you want the best features of both though? In that case, you’re going to have to look a bit harder. Fortunately for me, I came across two limited edition chairs that fit the bill: the Haworth x Xbox: Fern Gaming Chair and the Haworth x Xbox: Very Gaming Chair. I had a chance to test out the latter for the past week and it’s the perfect combination of looks, ergonomics and comfort.
If you’re on Team Green and want something that you’ll likely use a whole lot more often than either the Xbox Series X mini fridge or the Xbox Series S toaster, here’s what you need to know about this collaboration between the office furniture maker Haworth and Xbox.
Just a hint of Xbox
Instead of starting from the ground up, Haworth took a different approach for its collaboration with Xbox. While the furniture maker could have designed two brand new chairs, it took two of its most popular models and gave them a gaming-centric glow up. The chair I got to try is based on Haworth’s Very Mesh Office Chair, though there’s also one based on Haworth’s Fern Office Chair.
What I like about both chairs is that the Xbox branding is very subtle and just adds a touch of that gamer aesthetic to them. For instance, they both have a white Xbox logo on their headrests and each chair’s casters or wheels have bright green accents.
Where Haworth’s Very Gaming Chair and Fern Gaming Chair differ the most is when it comes to their backrests. The Very Gaming Chair has a mesh backrest with an adjustable, asymmetrical lumbar support made up of several lines that come together to make a rectangle. On the regular version of the Very Office Chair, this backrest is gray but on the Xbox version, it’s that same bright green found on its wheels that the Xbox brand is known for.
Haworth’s Fern Office Chair has a unique backrest that stands out in the same way that the one on the OdinLake Butterfly Ergo Butterfly 753 does. It’s actually what put the company on my radar in the first place after I kept seeing its Fern chair online.
True to its name, the backrest of the Fern office chair is made up of flexible fronds (if you don’t know your plants, a frond is the leaf or leaflike part of a palm, fern or similar plant). Just like Haworth did with the Very Gaming Chair, the fronds on the Fern Gaming Chair are also Xbox green. However, while both of Haworth’s Xbox gaming chairs have an emblem which anchors their spine, the Fern Gaming Chair has a second Xbox logo at the top of its backrest. While I haven’t had a chance to try out the Fern Gaming Chair, Haworth did send over one of its standard Fern Office Chairs for review.
More office chair than gaming chair
During my time testing out Haworth’s Very Gaming Chair, I was pleasantly surprised by just how comfortable it was to sit in both while working and gaming.
What immediately drew me to both of Haworth’s Xbox chairs is that at first glance, they look a whole lot more like standard office chairs than gaming chairs. This makes sense as they are actually just that. I’m glad Haworth went in this direction instead of trying their hand at making a more traditional gaming chair as the company has been making office furniture for over 70 years.
The Very Gaming Chair is only available in gray while the Fern Gaming Chair comes in either black or green. If you’re a big Halo fan, you’ll be happy to know that the green version is an homage to the legendary Spartan-II super soldier himself, the Master Chief. It’s almost identical to the standard Fern Gaming Chair but instead of the Xbox logo on its headrest, it has the Master Chief’s call sign 117 embroidered on it.
Although I typically prefer all-mesh office chairs to help keep me cool while working or gaming, the Very Gaming Chair has a faux leather seat cushion to make those long gaming sessions a bit more comfortable. Likewise, it also has a waterfall seat edge to keep your legs from getting fatigued.
During my time testing out Haworth’s Very Gaming Chair, I was pleasantly surprised by just how comfortable it was to sit in both while working and gaming. Making adjustments to the chair to get it exactly how I wanted was easy enough and I liked how there is a crank on the right side to change how it reclines. Cranking it forward locks the backrest in place while cranking it backward lets you recline more easily.
I also really liked how I could push the armrests out or pull them as I tend to like them a bit wider while working and closer together while gaming so that I can rest my elbows on them with one of the best PC game controllers in hand. In a similar way to the ROG Destrier Ergo Gaming Chair I checked out at CES this year, the Very Gaming Chair’s armrests raise up quite high (all the way up to 10.5 inches) which is perfect for when you want to play one of the best handheld gaming consoles like the Steam Deck or the Nintendo Switch at your desk.
As for the Xbox branding on the chair, it’s really subtle enough from the front that my colleagues didn’t even know it was there on video calls until I turned my head to the side to reveal the Xbox logo on the left side of the headrest. Even when pushed into my desk, most people wouldn’t realize that this was a gaming chair at first glance while Xbox fans would immediately recognize the brand’s iconic green.
A comfy collaboration
Normally when furniture companies collaborate with gaming companies, they do so on a per game basis. For instance, with the Titan Evo, Secretlab offers a number of different special edition designs highlighting all sorts of different game franchises from Assassin’s Creed to Cyberpunk 2077 to League of Legends. The Haworth x Xbox collaboration is the first time I’ve seen a furniture company highlight the design and aesthetic of a gaming brand itself.
The Very Gaming Chair and the Fern Gaming Chair are both premium office chairs with a gaming spin. However, despite their Xbox branding, both chairs cost around the exact same amount that their regular, non-gaming counterparts do. I wouldn’t recommend you rush out and buy either of them but if you’ve been working from home for a long time or prefer gaming at your desk, they could be a great investment. Especially since the core components of both chairs like the frame and mechanisms have a 12-year warranty while their fabric components have a 5-year warranty.
Going forward, I’d love to see additional collaborations between Haworth and Xbox. It’s a shame they didn’t work together on a Fallout themed chair ahead of the show’s release but who knows, we might see one to coincide with Fallout 5 when it comes out. Alternatively, I wouldn't mind seeing what a PlayStation or even a Nintendo variant of two of Haworth’s most popular chairs would look like.
The Haworth x Xbox collaboration shows that office furniture doesn’t have to be boring nor do you need to completely reinvent the wheel to make unique products that really stand out like both of these chairs do.
