IKEA and Xbox have put their YXSTABY collection on sale, and the prices are lower than a branded collaboration usually implies.
The range starts at $17.99 for a cushion shaped like a controller D-pad and tops out at $179.99 for a rolling side table, according to IKEA’s own US product listing.
IKEA’s newsroom says the nine-product collection went on sale in stores and online on October 1, after being shown at Gamescom in August. Xbox covered the launch the same day.
IKEA YXSTABY prices in full
US prices run as follows:
- D-pad cushion and D-pad controller platter: $17.99 each
- Controller display box: $29.99
- Laptop support with storage: $34.99
- Monitor stand: $39.99
- Thumb stick stool: $49.99
- Lounge chair: $119.99
- TV stand on castors: $149.99
- Side table on castors: $179.99
Several pieces come in more than one finish, so the shelf count is higher than the product count.
The palette is muted white, black and beige, with green picking out the pockets and compartments meant to hold gear.
What is worth buying
IKEA calls the rolling TV stand the first of its kind it has developed. It is designed to be pushed to wherever people are playing, with storage for controllers and cables at the back, then rolled away.
That is a more honest read of how consoles get used in a shared room than a fixed entertainment unit is.
The thumb stick stool tilts as you lean, echoing the stick it is named after. The D-pad appears twice, once as a soft cushion and once as a stainless steel platter.
A platter shaped like a D-pad is a joke about gaming snacks that IKEA has decided to charge $17.99 for, and it will probably sell.
The pricing is the surprise. A $119.99 lounge chair and $149.99 rolling TV stand are ordinary IKEA numbers rather than gaming-tax numbers.
Where to buy it
The collection is in IKEA stores and online from October 1. Ranges and prices vary by country, and the figures above are the US listing.
IKEA frames the project as 25 years of Xbox understanding how people play meeting more than 80 years of IKEA studying life at home, with one designer from each side on every piece.
The practical reading is that Xbox gets brand presence in a shop millions of people walk through without ever visiting a games retailer.
It is also a long way from the licensed-accessory era, when customization meant Microsoft offering millions of controller color combinations. We have not seen the pieces in person and are not judging build quality.
The collection was designed jointly rather than licensed, with IKEA and Xbox designers working on each piece together.
That shows most in the details sized for gaming gear: slings for controllers, compartments for cables, a monitor stand with room underneath.
Furniture is a slower business than controllers, and a green cushion is a cheaper way into a living room than a console.
