CES 2025: Sitting in Razer’s heated and cooled gaming chair felt like a mini vacation
CES 2025 is coming to a close and I couldn’t be more excited. Not because I don’t like the exhibition space or the face-to-face meetings with people I usually only see online, but because I spent the week in a hotel room with a broken heater. That’s why I was on the verge of staging a robbery today when I got to try out Razer’s concept gaming chair with heating and cooling.
The chair, called “Project Arielle,” is not yet confirmed for the market, but simply demonstrates an idea that Razer is thinking about. But it’s an idea I fully support. Project Arielle uses the company’s existing Fujin Pro chair as a base and features a heater and bladeless fan, turning its mesh back into a temperature control system.
Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt
How it works is that the fan draws air from the bottom of the device, which is then filtered through vents on the sides of the chair back and blown out over your neck. Your buttocks and arms won’t be air conditioned, at least for now, but it still felt like a breath of fresh air.
I was a little skeptical going in because I wasn’t sure if the Ariel would really look much different if she were standing just a few feet away from a fan. But the breath of cool air on the back of my neck was undeniably refreshing after walking through the crowded exhibition space.
For my money, however, I preferred the heater, which takes advantage of the strengths of a mesh back by keeping your back warm without making you sweat. It’s a little less innovative than Cool Mode, but while heated gaming chairs currently exist, they rarely offer as much coverage as the Ariel and often use materials that can become stuffy over time.
According to RazerThe chair’s heater can warm you up to 30 degrees Celsius, while the fan can lower your “feels like temperature” by nine degrees. Why “perceived temperature” and not actual temperature? Well, if a fan is blowing directly down your neck, you might feel a little colder than a thermometer indicates.
Credit: Michelle Ehrhardt
For control, there is a small control panel on the seat that allows you to switch from heating to cooling and change the fan speed. However, detailed temperature settings are currently not possible. There is also orange lighting to show when the device is heating up and blue when it is cooling down, but those are the only colors that can currently be displayed.
Anyway, I’m about to bury myself under some blankets and wait for the day this thing actually comes out. Last year’s Razer concept, Project Esthereventually made it to market as the Razer Freyja, so it’s not out of the question.
