IKEA and XBOX present the YXSTABY collection for a better gaming experience at home
A mobile TV stand, a laptop stand, a wheeled side table, a monitor stand and a stool inspired by the XBOX controller reinterpret the gaming setup as part of everyday domestic life for a generation of millennials
Art imitates life – and, at first, video games began to imitate the furniture of some of the most famous industrial designers. In life-simulation games such as The Sims, hugely popular among architects and designers, and Animal Crossing, pixelated versions of iconic pieces by Le Corbusier, Philippe Starck and the Castiglioni brothers began appearing on our screens.
Now, the relationship seems to have reversed: reality is starting to imitate gaming, bringing its aesthetics, habits and rituals into the home. Who said gaming is a relegated activity couldn’t be more wrong – and IKEA is here to prove it, introducing YXSTABY, a new furniture collection for gaming enthusiasts developed by the Swedish brand in collaboration with XBOX.
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A furniture collection inspired by gaming
When gaming enters the home
The concept behind the new line starts from a simple observation: gaming is becoming much more than a hobby, influencing the aesthetics and habits of everyday life – and, consequently, the way we design our homes.
“The way people play at home has changed. Gaming today is also about relaxing and spending time with others, not just focusing on the game, and this changes what we expect from our domestic spaces. XBOX knows what gamers need from their gaming setup and how to solve the small problems that arise when that setup has to adapt to everyday life at home. Together, we wanted to create products that are both functional and beautiful, things people are happy to have in their homes, rather than furniture that only serves a gaming purpose,” says Philip Dilé, Product Design Developer at IKEA of Sweden.
Developed through a collaboration between designers from IKEA and XBOX, with each pair defining the aesthetic of one object, the collection focuses on both form and functionality, turning everyday objects into gaming companions that can easily adapt to different situations. Have you ever thought a table could become more comfortable simply by adding a drawer to hide away a console controller?
Among the collection’s products is a useful ally for clearing things away once the game is over: IKEA’s first TV stand. Fitted with wheels, it can be easily moved from one room to another, while a practical rear compartment provides space for gaming equipment. For those without a dedicated gaming room, the laptop stand can quickly turn a dining table – or any other surface – into a temporary gaming setup. It features a handy compartment for organising controllers, cables and other equipment, while its lid can also be used as a stand for a laptop.
Other pieces in the collection respond to the everyday needs that come with gaming at home. The wheeled side table can be easily moved next to any seat, providing a dedicated surface for controllers – so you don’t have to balance them on the sofa armrest – as well as a space for charging devices behind its sliding doors. The monitor stand, meanwhile, raises one or two screens to a comfortable height and includes practical spaces and supports for a phone, headphones and controllers.
XBOX controller inspires YXSTABY furniture and accessories
If gaming is entering our homes, it makes sense that some of its most familiar visual codes should come with it. From this perspective, the XBOX controller becomes a sort of design vocabulary: its colors, shapes, textures and gestures are translated into furniture and accessories, without simply reproducing the object itself. Green is used as a functional accent throughout the collection, marking the pockets, compartments and other details designed to hold or organise gaming equipment. It gives these practical elements a visual identity of their own, while the rest of the palette – white, black and beige – keeps the furniture at home rather than in a dedicated gaming environment.
Some references are more direct. The D-pad, for instance, appears in the shape of a cushion and a decorative dish in polished stainless steel. A mirrored display stand turns the controller itself into something to be displayed, reflecting it from different angles together with figurines and other collectibles. The most playful translation is perhaps the stool: its shape takes inspiration from the thumbstick of the XBOX controller, developed from the original 3D design files shared with the IKEA designers. But it is not simply a blown-up version of a gaming accessory. The curve becomes the seat, while the texture of the original grip – designed to keep the thumb from slipping during a game – helps provide stability when sitting.
For David Wahl, designer at IKEA, the object also carries a personal connection. “25 years ago, I spent the whole night in line to get my hands on the first XBOX console. So working with these shapes also had a personal and nostalgic dimension for me. The challenge was to make it work as a stool, with the right curve for the seat and the right stability, without losing the look of a thumbstick. It even moves like a thumbstick, tilting with the player.”
How gaming is changing contemporary home design
The influence of digital life on our tangible surroundings goes far beyond aesthetics or inspiration. It is also changing the way we relate to technology – including when technology becomes part of activities traditionally associated with leisure and spare time. YXSTABY is a clear example of this shift: rather than treating gaming as an activity that requires its own dedicated environment, the collection considers it as one of the many things that happen within the home.
For those born in the 1980s and 1990s, gaming is no longer necessarily a teenage activity left behind with childhood. This is a generation that grew up alongside the evolution of consoles, computers and the internet, and is now bringing those habits into adulthood. Gaming has followed them home, but the meaning of home has changed too.
It can be a place to work, relax, socialise, watch, play and create, often within the same few square metres, so, gaming itself has also evolved from a hobby into an industry and, for many, a profession. Streaming, e-sports, content creation and game development have blurred the traditional distinction between leisure and productivity, and the gaming setup is another tool within an increasingly fluid domestic landscape.
The pandemic only accelerated this transformation: as homes became offices, classrooms, gyms, cinemas and social spaces almost overnight, the idea of the house as a fixed-function environment started to feel increasingly outdated. Following this historical moment – so condensed, but still extremely important in shaping contemporary domestic environments – our interiors became microcosms, expected to accommodate multiple activities and identities throughout the day. Furniture, consequently, has had to become more adaptable, and no longer tied to a single function, but increasingly capable of following the shifting rhythms of everyday life.
This is the space IKEA operates in. With a strong appeal among younger generations, but also a long-standing ability to set trends and intercept emerging behaviors, the brand has created YXSTABY as a reflection of this moment. The objects act as translators, bringing the practical needs of gaming into familiar domestic typologies: a TV stand becomes mobile, a side table accommodates controllers and charging devices, while a laptop stand transforms an existing surface into a temporary gaming station. It is a playful furniture collection, but the idea that carries the collection is precise: gaming is already part of the contemporary home and everyday life – and design is acknowledging it.
About the author
Ludovica Proietti, journalist, design historian and curator, teaches in universities and curates events, always exploring projects with fresh, unconventional perspectives.
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