There’s nothing inherently expensive or lower-quality about a headset mic; if that were the case, they wouldn’t be so popular for e.g. mass purchases for call center employees. Gaming headsets are priced higher because of their image and perception of HQ input and output, not their actual cost.

As for why you’d still pay the extra for that image? If the only time you use a mic is for a game, it makes more sense than otherwise. Some of our desks get cluttered as hell, and I know I’ll pay an extra $20 or so for the convenience of having a mic without having to find a place for it to live and manage its cable.

I fully agree with your logic, but just purchased a pair of Epos gaming headphones for office use. The usual office stuff sucks, with almost no isolation and terrible sound quality. I needed a compact set with good sound and isolation to deal with the return to office. The second use case is space and convenience.

It seems like you can get a lot more mileage out of a good pair of headphones and an independent mic

Hard disagree. I bought a Corsair gaming headset specifically for work (WFH) because I wanted a good quality wireless headset at a reasonable price so I can wander the house in calls/meetings as needed and hear/be heard without issue. It has done wonders for me, because I don’t have to duck out of a call to stretch my legs or go get something from elsewhere in the house while I’m stuck on a 2 hour call.

Being chained to a desk has always been the worst part of a desk job for me, and my gaming headset has basically removed that feeling (even though I still have to do 98% of my job from said desk).