Xbox and Ikea are collaborating on a home gaming collection, that’s aimed at teens and adults. Gaming is something that literally everyone does, so they’ve created a bunch of very functional and very fun furniture that are more subtly designed by gaming, called YXSTABY. Ahead of the launch in stores tomorrow, they’ve opened up a little interactive experience at Oxford Street.
I went along to the IKEA x Xbox Collection, which started off with people queueing. If you haven’t pre-booked a time slot, you can wait in a queue and be let in, if there is space, without having a ticket. This might not get you a goodie bag, as a warning, and there are still some spaces left so do take a look before you go.
The experience itself is a sort of room set up of the YXSTABY items. You can play Minecraft Dungeon II and Forza Horizon 6, along with other games, on the TVs. The gaming influencer known as Yammy is also there, to play games with you and tell you about the various items in the collection. She seemed really nice!
There are also snacks in the form of popcorn, cookies and soda on a table. The whole space is quite small and crowded, even though they are only letting in 12 people per time slot. You get half an hour to game and explore the collection, touching it, trying out the stools, and talking to Yammy if you’d like. I think this is an interesting idea, as IKEA is known for their little layouts of rooms and ability to test objects before you purchase them.
I found the TV stand itself, which is on wheels and has hooks at the back to hold your headsets and gaming controllers, to be quite smaller than I expected – an actual good size to move around. The Thumbstick stools, which previously looked really hard and not great to sit on, where surprisingly comfortable. It’s a good collection, very subtly themed with a big focus on function, and I really enjoyed that.
After half an hour, your time slot ends, and you can grab your goodie bag if you have a ticket. These all are a special Xbox x IKEA Collab IKEA-style bag and an X pillow.
