Logitech and Razer Top the Leaderboard for Third-Party Gaming Accessories

With the holidays just around the corner and two brand-new gaming consoles having just been unleashed upon the world (as you may have heard), it’s a good bet that gamers across the U.S. are stocking up on anything they might need to take full advantage of their new systems — or putting it on their Christmas lists.

That includes new controllers, gaming headsets, and yes, the much-discussed ‘gamer chairs.’

With that in mind, CivicScience surveyed more than 2,000 Americans (ages 13+) about their experience with these products — and the various brands that offer them. 

Among gamers, most (62%) say they don’t use any special accessories when playing video games — just give ‘em a console, a game, a TV, and a controller and they’re good to go. 

But CivicScience found that among gamers who use accessories, the most popular, by a wide margin, are gaming headsets. A quarter of gamers use them, while about 1 in 6 say they use custom controllers. Fewer than 1 in 10 use specialty gamer chairs.

Another big takeaway from the study? Console-branded controllers (those produced by Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo) blow away any third-party offerings in that category among gamers. It would seem most console gamers are simply content with their console-brand controllers and don’t think custom controllers are necessary. Among the third-party controller makers, though, Logitech clearly comes out on top.

CivicScience also surveyed Americans about their experience with six top gaming headset makers. Logitech once again came out with relatively high marks.

Among the gaming chair brands CivicScience asked about, Razer chairs were neck-and-neck with GTRacing chairs for the top spot.

Overall, among third-party video game accessory manufacturers, Logitech and Razer performed best, while brands like Astro and SteelSeries somewhat surprisingly lagged behind. Given the relatively high number of “negative” responses for many of the brands, it’s clear that many gamers are highly opinionated and loyal to their favorites — making it crucial for each to attract as many players as possible to their camp.