Gaming chairs are close enough in design to office chairs to make it feel like you’re doing important work, even if you’re just spending hours terrorizing families of five in The Sims. But if you’ve managed to shrug off the societal guilt of gaming and only care about being comfortable, Japan’s Bauhutte has created what it’s calling the Gaming Sofa Deluxe, and it’s where we want to live out the rest of our lives.
If you’re a gamer unfamiliar with Bauhutte, that’s a real tragedy because while companies like Razer are trying to stuff gaming chairs full of silly, flashy RGB lights, the Japanese brand has created a massive line of over-the-top gaming furniture, including a gaming bed with a mini fridge in easy reach and a mattress that automatically raises sleepers into gaming position with a power lift.
Bauhutte’s latest creation sits somewhere between a sofa and a gaming chair, and is reminiscent of the over-stuffed single seat loungers from companies like La-Z-Boy or BarcaLounger, except neither contributed to the design of the Gaming Sofa Deluxe. With extra-padded arm rests and a base that slopes back to drag users down into its comfy depths (both the base and the back support can recline even further), on its own the Gaming Sofa Deluxe looks like a chair you’d never want to get up out of after plonking down.
And, except for bathroom breaks and sustenance, you may never have to get up out of it. The Gaming Sofa Deluxe sits on a set of four wheels, allowing it to be rolled around like an office chair and repositioned somewhere other than a desk, like in front of a home entertainment system. You can probably wheel it right on up to a dining table, or take a spin through the kitchen with a stop at the fridge, although those plastic wheels may prove challenging when transitioning from room to room and between different flooring types because on its own the chair weighs around 22 kg.
The Gaming Sofa Deluxe is primarily designed to be paired with Bauhutte’s highly customisable and adjustable desks, but it can also be accessorized with mounts and supports for mobile devices, facilitating either hands-free gaming on a smartphone, or for recording live streams. Pricing will be just shy of ¥56,577 and for the time being the chair is only available in Japan, but should see a wider release at a later date, according to the company.