The Elgato Embrace promised to solve my frustrations with gaming chairs, but it's really just more of the same

It’s always felt as though Elgato is a brand that knows its audience and what they need, sometimes even before they knew they needed it. That approach has seen it steadily grow its range of creator-focused gear from the iconic Stream Deck to microphones, lighting, cameras, and capture cards. There are plenty of creators who rely on Elgato across their setup, so when it announced a chair in 2025, it felt like a left-field, yet logical decision.

The Elgato Embrace isn’t just for creators, though. It’s an ergonomic chair designed for anyone who spends hours at their desk, whether that’s gaming, creating content, or simply working. That premise is familiar enough, and at $499.99 / £499 it’s priced in a pretty familiar way too. That number puts it squarely in the midfield of the best gaming chairs. It’s easy to spend more, but it’s easy to spend a fair bit less, too.

So what makes this chair interesting is how Elgato pitches it. The initial launch took aim at gaming chairs, their pricing, and their setup process, while being pretty bold in directly calling out other brands at the same time. I’ve got no problem with self-confidence, but you need to be ready to back it up if you’re going to come out talking the talk. So the question, then, is whether the Elgato Embrace is ready to walk the walk in a very competitive desk chair market. Is this self-branded “Studio Chair” really that different from what’s already here?

Design & Assembly

I’ve put together more than my fair share of gaming chairs at all points across the budget spectrum. It’s hardly my favorite activity, but it’s never been a source of impending dread either. It’s only a chair, after all; they’re really not that hard to put together.

In its launch of the Embrace, Elgato went full TV shopping network with its portrayal of the ‘normal’ experience and made a point of highlighting how simple the Embrace was in comparison. In fairness, Elgato does leave you with a very simple building process, though I’m not sure it’s that much easier than any modern gaming chair, just quicker to get done. The main improvement is not needing to attach the seat cushion to the base yourself; that comes pre-attached and saves a chunk of the hex key work. Instead, you just pop the wheels into the base, perch the seat on the gas cylinder, and slot the backrest on. It genuinely took about two and a half minutes, so points to Elgato for that.

With it put together, the Embrace is exactly what Elgato promised in the looks department. It's a clean, understated, black office chair. It’s a grown-up’s seat that, dare I say, is almost a little bit boring and certainly quite generic looking; whether that’s for better or worse is a matter of taste. The only Elgato branding sits discreetly on the back of the headrest, which means it looks equally at home on a Twitch stream or a Teams call. It only comes in one color for now, which is a shame but not a problem, and only in one size, which is a shame and slightly more of a problem for some prospective sitters.

It may look like an adult chair from a distance and in marketing materials, but up close, it’s an awkward teenager when it comes to build quality. With the exception of the main seat unit, this is an entirely plastic chair. That’s not necessarily an issue as there's no creaking or obvious flex, but it lacks any premium feel with no real payback. It’s like it doesn’t know what it wants to be. When I’ve seen other brands opt for plastic components, it’s been in the name of cost-saving on their budget lines, and that makes sense. Here, it has the vibe of a chair that's been designed with sustainability in mind but without actually making any specific claims.

Features

The Elgato Embrace comes with the full set of ergonomic adjustments you’d expect to see on a premium chair: seat height, seat depth, lumbar support, a five-step recline system, 4D armrests, and a detachable headrest.

The mesh backrest is breathable and flexible, with a material that feels noticeably softer and less scratchy than some other mesh options I’ve tested before. If you're someone who runs hot during longer sessions or works under studio lights, it does its job perfectly well. Lumbar support is adjustable for both height and depth, and while I’ve never been one for aggressive lumbar support, the Embrace’s is a decent showing. I just wish the vertical adjustment range went a little higher. I’m about 180cm (5’11) and at its highest point, I would have still liked to go a little further; taller users may struggle to get the lumbar positioned exactly where they need it.

The five-step recline uses a tilt limiter rather than a true tilt lock, which is a deliberate ergonomic choice, but it does feel a little prescriptive. You can tighten the resistance so the backrest requires a pretty deliberate lean to move, but you can't dial in a specific angle and fix it there. It’s also worth noting that only the backrest moves, and this is independent of the seat cushion, so your lower half stays where it is regardless, which can be an odd feeling if you’re used to a more traditional tilt.

The included headrest, while fine when you’re reclining, isn't especially useful day-to-day. It's prone to shifting around and can't be completely locked in place, even when you tighten the hex bolts as hard as they'll go. The armrests are a bigger problem. The padding is thin and hard, which is not particularly comfortable on your elbows, but the real frustration is that they simply won't stay put. Height adjustment locks in solidly, no complaints there, but the rotation, forward-backward, and in-out movements have no locking mechanism at all, meaning they shift out of position at the gentlest touch. It's a problem that plagues plenty of chairs at this price (and above), but Elgato has fallen into a common trap with a chair it promised would solve all my annoyances with its rivals.

Performance

After using it as my daily driver for work over the last couple of weeks, I can tell you as far as comfort goes, the Elgato Embrace is entirely adequate without ever being particularly memorable. If you're expecting a plush, welcoming kind of comfort that draws you in, that's not what this chair is. If you’re expecting an incredibly ergonomic experience that’ll solve all your aches and pains, that’s not what this chair is either. I wasn’t disappointed by how it felt to sit on for extended periods, but a bit like its looks, the Embrace is just very standard.

The seat cushion is relatively soft and relatively shallow, too. The foam isn’t particularly dense, with a fast spring-back that leaves it feeling more like a standard mass-produced office chair you'd find in a corporate hot-desking setup than anything particularly premium.

The shape is nice, slightly sculpted but with a flat overall profile and waterfall edge intended to avoid cutting into the back of your legs and promote circulation. It’s a nice change from the aggressively-bucketed seats with high sides that you often find on gaming chairs. The seat is reasonably narrow, however, so larger users should consider other options, and there’s no XL option on offer, I’m afraid, so you’ll need to look elsewhere.

All in all, I don’t have a huge amount of criticism of what the Elgato Embrace is like to use as a studio chair, but it does feel like a chair I’ve sat in hundreds of times before. There’s nothing wrong with that; not every chair needs to be groundbreaking in one way or another, and often brands seem to add features for the sake of saying they’re different. I don’t need built-in air conditioning in my chair, thanks in advance. But the truth is, I came into this expecting more from a chair that had promised so much about shaking up the market and delivering what others haven’t. This is, in essence, a pretty basic mesh office chair trying to cosplay as a premium one.

Should you buy the Elgato Embrace?

The Elgato Embrace is a functional, comfortable-enough ergonomic chair that looks smart on camera and assembles in minutes. If those are your top priorities and you're an Elgato superfan, then there's logic to picking one up. But at $499.99 / £499, the Elgato Embrace has a value problem that it told everyone it was solving. Elgato's entire pitch was about delivering premium, full-featured ergonomic comfort at a more accessible price than the established brands, but what I'm sitting on feels closer to a $250-300 office chair with better branding. The Embrace isn't bad, it's just not $500 good.

In our list of the best gaming chairs, and even outside it, there are better options for one reason or another. Maybe they’re cheaper, maybe they’re more comfortable, maybe they’re a little better executed. The Elgato Embrace is trying to position itself as a premium alternative to both gaming chairs and high-end office chairs, but the build quality, materials, and overall feel don't fully back that up. For a first attempt at furniture from a tech peripherals brand, the Embrace shows promise, but I just wish they’d made a quieter entrance to the market.

How we tested the Elgato Embrace

I used the Elgato Embrace as my primary desk chair for a couple of weeks, using it for a mix of gaming, content, and general productivity. Testing covered extended sessions of four-plus hours at a time, and I paid particular attention to comfort, build quality, and adjustability. I assembled it myself on a carpeted floor and used it with a standard plastic chair mat underneath.

For more details about how we test gaming chairs, take a look at the hardware policy.

There's more where that came from. Check out the best gaming desks, the best standing desks, and the best console gaming chair.