The Yxstaby collection is a partnership between Ikea and Xbox. Image courtesy of Ikea. RA: Please make all the images look nice together and if you see something that feels off feel free to change that. Add a nice grain to all images. Ask me with any questions
CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa. — Top 100 retailer Ikea teamed up with Xbox to create a nine-piece collection designed for gaming at home as it happens, in any room and alongside everything and everyone else in it.
Yxstaby was designed in collaboration between Ikea and Xbox, with one designer from each team working together on every piece. Xbox brought 25 years of understanding how people play, while Ikea added more than 80 years of life at home expertise and dedicated visits to homes where gaming is part of daily life. Throughout the process, the designers considered the needs of both players and the people who share their spaces.
“How people play at home has shifted, and it is as much about relaxing and connecting with others as it is about performing, which changes what the space has to do. Xbox knows what players need from their gaming setup, and we know how to solve the small problems that come with adapting that to everyday life at home,” said Philip Dilé, product design developer at Ikea of Sweden. “Together, we set out to make furniture people really want in their home, not furniture they accept because it is what you need to game.”
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The collection makes it easier to bring play into a room and tuck everything away afterwards. The TV stand, the first of its kind Ikea has developed, rolls to wherever play is happening, with storage for gear at the back, and it rolls away when the game is over.
For people without a dedicated gaming space, the toolbox keeps controllers, cables and hardware together. Its lid closes over the contents and doubles as a laptop stand, so the dining table can become a place to play and then simply return to being a dining table.
Other pieces solve the small, familiar challenges that can come with playing at home.
The side table rolls, giving controllers another place to rest than the arm of the sofa and space to charge behind its sliding doors. The monitor stand raises one or two screens to a comfortable height, with storage underneath and holders for a phone, headphones and controller.
“At Xbox, we think a lot about what helps players feel immersed in a game. The hardware is an important part of that, but so is the world you create around it,” said Carl Ledbetter, head of design at Xbox. “Working with Ikea gave us the opportunity to design for the entire gaming experience at home, from the screen to the space around it.”
The Xbox controller is a recurring source of inspiration for the collection, shaping both how several pieces look and how they work. Its familiar forms and details appear throughout the collection in unexpected ways and help create thoughtful gaming solutions for the home. The D-pad becomes both a comfortable cushion and a decorative platter in shiny stainless steel. A mirrored display box showcases a controller from every side, alongside figurines and other collectibles worth showing off.
The thumbstick stool takes the idea furthest. Developed from the controller’s original 3D design files with Xbox device designers, it turns an object moved by a thumb into one designed to sit on. Even the grip texture has a new purpose, helping to keep a person in place just as it keeps a thumb from slipping.
Yxstaby was unveiled at Gamescom in August and will available in Ikea stores and online beginning Oct. 1.
