Gaming Glasses – Are Glasses with Blue Light Filters a Good Idea for Gamers?

^{Article first published: October 2021
Last update: February 2023}

Today's market offers an ever-growing selection of special glasses that come with an integrated blue light filter promising to protect gamers' eyes while playing video games on their computers. Designed to curb eye fatigue, these glasses should enable gamers to concentrate better while playing and focus on the action. But are such gaming glasses beneficial, what advantages do they offer, and what do they actually do?

Video games and professional esports, or competitive video games, are one of the biggest entertainment phenomena of the 21st century. The German games market alone recorded a significant jump in sales in the previous year of 2021, with video games generating total sales of around 9.8 billion euros. This corresponds to an increase of 17 percent compared to the previous year.¹ In other words, video games are in greater demand than ever. And it is the players' eyes that are really under a constant barrage while gaming, which is why various manufacturers are responding by developing glasses for gamers. In most cases, these are special glasses intended to counteract the negative impacts that monitor – and especially computer screens – are thought to have on the eyes.

According to the information provided by manufacturers, the special glasses are designed to “protect” against blue light. Yet, studies have not provided any specific information demonstrating that the blue light emitted by screens presents a health risk for the retina. According to all scientific and medical insights currently available, we have “all clear“ in terms of acute eye damage. Nonetheless, prolonged exposure for hours on end can also negatively impact visual comfort and quality, and such individuals frequently report asthenopic symptoms, stress, eye strain, and visual discomfort. Excessive gaming into the evening and nighttime can also disturb sleep-wake cycles and thus negatively impact well-being and overall health in general.