Ikea has launched Yxstaby, a new gaming furniture range developed in collaboration with Xbox, which takes design cues directly from console controllers. The partnership grew out of a chance meeting in Milan between Ikea and Xbox designers, and builds on Ikea's earlier Brännboll gaming collection, which aimed to make gaming gear blend into home decor rather than looking out of place. The range matters because it represents a rare direct collaboration between a furniture giant and a games console maker, translating gaming hardware aesthetics into everyday living-room furniture.

The collection includes a wheeled side table that charges controllers behind sliding doors, a toolbox-cum-laptop-stand for cables, a gaming chair with a hidden controller pocket, and a rollable TV stand for screens up to 55 inches. Its standout piece is a stool shaped like an Xbox controller's thumbstick, designed by David Wahl, who reworked the controller's original 3D files and drew on Ikea's existing Nilserik office stool. The Xbox team, led by devices design head Carl Ledbetter, reportedly embraced the stool concept immediately, and Ikea went through extensive prototyping in materials such as cork and wood to balance the thumbstick's sharp, grippy shape with sitting comfort and stability.