For anyone who’s twiddled their way through several dozen hours of Halo or Grand Theft Auto, the newest Ikea home furnishings collection will probably look very familiar.
The nine-item collection, named Yxstaby, is a collaboration between Ikea and Xbox focused on furniture and objects meant to be used by gamers. Several of the main design moves come directly from the Xbox controller itself.
There’s a mint green pillow that’s X-shaped like the directional arrows of the controller’s D pad. There’s a faceted metal dish that mimics the form of the rounded D pad buttons on special Elite Series controllers. And there’s a compact stool that looks like a giant version of the controller’s thumbstick, complete with a slight rounded bottom that lets a user pivot in all directions, just like the thumbstick.
But the Yxstaby items are not meant to merely ape the controller. Ikea’s designers worked directly with Xbox’s designers to come up with pieces that address the evolving way gaming happens inside people’s homes.
“Gaming has advanced from the basement. People play games in all the rooms of the home,” says Carl Ledbetter, head of design for Xbox devices. “The biggest change is designing products that meet people where they want to play, how they want to play, and any place they want to play.”
That means playing on computers, consoles, and handhelds, sitting on couches, chairs, or even the floor. Ikea and Xbox designers worked together to develop the furniture and furnishings that could accommodate these varied modes.
For the console player, the designers came up with a chalkboard-style TV stand that can hold a large flat screen while also storing the console and its peripheral cords and devices. Set on wheels, the TV stand can be moved closer to players during game time.
“For people who want to play games, particularly at home, they want to be immersed,” Ledbetter says.
Ikea product developer Philip Dilé, who previously led Ikea’s first gaming-focused collection, says the Ikea Xbox collaboration was designed with gaming top of mind while recognizing that the game-centric storage and furnishings would also need to fit into settings that are used for much more than gaming alone.
Dilé points to the lounge chair, which is designed for edge-sitting during focused gaming, and includes a controller storage pouch beneath the seat. The piece works just as well as a chair for leaning back, deep into a book or conversation.
“I think that’s what people expect from most furniture, and especially gaming furniture, that it should really serve multiple functions but also aesthetically contribute to the home and not be something that you accept just to fulfill a function or to enhance your hobby,” Dilé says.
The designers also injected a bit of playfulness into the collection. Ikea designer David Wahl and Xbox designer Elliott Hsu worked together on the thumbstick stool, which scales up one of the most recognizable elements of the Xbox controller.
Dilé says the pair started their process using the actual design files of the controller thumbstick, pulling its exact geometries and details into their design. “They just had a lot of fun designing that one,” he says.
The Xystaby collection will be available in Ikea stores and online in the fall.
