Xbox teams up with IKEA for debut gaming furniture collection

Designers from IKEA and Xbox were paired up to create the products in this furniture collection, including a stool that looks and tilts like a giant thumbstick.

Unveiled today at the Gamescom fair in Cologne, the nine-piece YXSTABY range is Xbox's debut foray into gaming furniture, designed to blend easily into the home when it's out of action.

"We set out to make furniture people really want in their home, not furniture they accept because it is what you need to game," said IKEA product design developer Philip Dilé.

Each of the pieces in the collection was designed by a team made up of one IKEA designer and one Xbox designer, uniting their gaming and furniture design expertise.

The standout product is a stool modelled on the distinctive thumbsticks found on Xbox controllers.

"We were looking at which objects people actually have around them when they play, and the thumbstick kept looking like a small stool to us," IKEA designer David Wahl told Dezeen.

Adapted from original 3D models of the device, the stool features a curved base that allows it to tilt in all directions much like the real thumbstick, allowing users to lean into the action.

The seat even has the same grippy tessellated edges, now serving to hold the sitter rather than their thumbs in place.

"The challenge wasn't creating a giant thumbstick; the challenge was creating a great stool that still felt like a thumbstick," Xbox design director Elliot Hsu explained.

"We went back to the controller's original design files and spent a lot of time refining the proportions, texture, seating curve and stability. We wanted people to recognize it instantly while still feeling comfortable and functional in a living room."

Other pieces that play on some of Xbox's recognisable design elements include a shiny stainless-steel platter and a cushion in the company's signature shade of green, both shaped to look like the controller's sunken cross-shaped D-pad.

Clever storage is another theme that runs through the collection, often set on casters or equipped with handles so it can easily be moved around the home and turn any room into a game station.

Most notably, there's IKEA's first go at creating a TV stand since a failed attempt in 2012.

Set on casters, it can be rolled wherever it is needed, while opting for a square over a tubular metal frame keeps it from looking too much like office furniture, explained IKEA designer Lukas Bazle.

"Our focus here was to make a TV stand that's really safe, sturdy and affordable, and that looks good in a lot of different homes," he said.

"Doing a product like that at IKEA is sometimes harder than you'd think. We test our furniture very intensely, and with a TV and castors involved, a lot of things can go wrong."

There's also a wooden toolbox for holding various gaming gear and paraphernalia, which doubles as a laptop stand, as well as a rolling side table with integrated charging stations and a lounge chair with hidden storage pockets below the seat.

Its bouncy, cantilevered design was conceived to support both active and leisurely play.

"I hadn't thought at all about people playing in different modes," Bazle said.

"You sit forward when the game needs your full attention, and then there are games you play to relax, where you're sunk into the chair, and it's a completely different way of sitting. The lounge chair had to handle both."

The pieces are rendered in timber and muted neutrals of black, white and grey, with splashes of green guiding the eye to the integrated storage.

IKEA has gone full-force on gaming furniture in recent years, with previous launches including an inflatable gaming chair and a range of high-tech desks and chairs with Republic of Gamers.

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