Thermaltake's new gaming chair is giving us peak Porsche marketing

A man sits on a white chair with an ominous shadow behind him, staring blankly at some architectural models.
(Image credit: ThermalTake)

Can we just take a moment to ask if Thermaltake is alright? The company's recent press images have taken an artsy turn, in particular the brooding, slightly ominous header image above makes us genuinely concerned that something's wrong.

The images turned out to be part of Thermaltake's press efforts to get us to notice the Argent E700 Real Leather Gaming Chair, Thermaltake's recent collab with Studio F.A. Porsche. A project through which the company is "Bearing Witness to a New Dawn."

Thermaltake has, by way of promoting its new gaming chair, taken to exhibiting the work of artists, musicians, and athletes whose "master craftsmanship, cross-disciplinary creation and stable spiritual power, echoes the spirit that Thermaltake wants to convey."

Mr. Fan Cheng-Zong is the "contemporary artist with an old soul" who we see hunching over his creations in such a dejected fashion. He's also been shot sitting seriously in, and next to, the chair, as well as the all important Simba-ing of his work while leaning back in the chair shot, which I'll be writing to my boss about later. 

Frankly, it should be mandatory for all our product shots from now on.

He is joined by Ms. Tai Siao-Chun, a musician keeping her indigenous heritage alive through tunes played on her moon lute (what an awesome name for an instrument); and Mr. Douglas Creighton, a professional basketball player from P. LEAGUE+, who Thermaltake says has "transformative ability when he is on the court," whatever that means.

Sitting comfortably?

(Image credit: Secretlab)

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All these shots are, of course, an attempt for Thermaltake to show off their new chair, and it's great that the company is emphasizing the hard work of creatives and athletes alike in the process. 

But we just had to highlight how sad Mr. Cheng-Zong looks in his pics. We're not sure what Thermaltake said to him but it can't have been very nice. Maybe he's still feeling the sting of purchasing his new Porsche gaming chair, since the price tag is in the region of $1,300.

That's an immense cost, and it'll have to be pretty darn comfy to earn a place on our best gaming chairs list for that price. Even the outstanding Herman Miller Logitech Embody is a stretch for most at $1,200. 

Still, the Argent E700 does come in several vibrant colours, and looks to have all the modern greebles you'd expect from a super high-end gaming chair, such as 4D armrests, high density molding foam, and real leather upholstery.

Lets just hope it doesn't give us the mopes, like it did to Cheng-Zong.

Katie Wickens
Hardware Writer

Screw sports, Katie would rather watch Intel, AMD and Nvidia go at it. Having been obsessed with computers and graphics for three long decades, she took Game Art and Design up to Masters level at uni, and has been demystifying tech and science—rather sarcastically—for three years since. She can be found admiring AI advancements, scrambling for scintillating Raspberry Pi projects, preaching cybersecurity awareness, sighing over semiconductors, and gawping at the latest GPU upgrades. She's been heading the PCG Steam Deck content hike, while waiting patiently for her chance to upload her consciousness into the cloud.