Ikea Xbox Yxstaby Turns Controller Thumbstick Into Home Furniture

Ikea and Xbox just turned a controller thumbstick into a stool you can actually sit on, and the rest of the nine-piece Yxstaby range follows the same logic. Revealed at Gamescom and due in stores from October 1, the collection treats gaming as something that already happens at the kitchen table and on the sofa, not a basement bunker that needs RGB and sharp edges.

The collaboration started at Milan Design Week in 2024 when Ikea’s Philip Dilé showed the Xbox team the earlier Brännboll pieces. Two years of paired designers, home visits and prototype sessions later, the result is furniture that tucks gear away once the session ends.

How a Thumbstick Became a Stool You Can Sit On

Ikea designer David Wahl queued overnight 25 years ago for the first Xbox. He asked the Xbox team for the original controller 3D files and started iterating.

I was exploring keyboard chairs, but then it hit me: What is it that you’re actually using when you’re playing? The input devices. You have buttons and the control stick-and the control stick is moving. And, hey, it looks like a stool. What if you could enlarge it and actually sit on it?

David Wahl, Designer at IKEA of Sweden

The base came from an existing Ikea product, the Nilserik extending office stool with its rounded bottom. Prototypes went through cork, wood and heavy 3D printing. One fully round base proved so unstable it demanded constant attention, which Wahl found entertaining. The final version keeps the iconic silhouette while softening the aggressive grip texture of a real thumbstick into something comfortable. Rubber rings on the base echo Elite controller details. It tilts with the player the way a stick does under a thumb.

Xbox design head Carl Ledbetter called the reaction immediate. The stool was never a question of if, only of scale, ergonomics and motion.

• Original Xbox controller CAD files supplied the starting geometry
• Nilserik stool function supplied the active rounded base
• Multiple radius tests and material trials refined comfort versus icon recognition
• Grip texture repurposed from thumb slip-prevention to seat stability

Scale had to serve two jobs at once. The form had to read as a thumbstick from across the room, yet the seat had to feel stable under a full adult weight. Softening the grip texture solved the comfort side without erasing the reference. The rubber rings do similar double duty: they nod to Elite hardware and add a practical stop against floor slip.

As you assemble it, a hidden message appears once: “Hej from Älmhult,” the Swedish town that houses Ikea HQ, mirroring the “Hello from Seattle” Easter egg inside Xbox consoles.

The Nine Pieces and What They Cost

Every item pairs one Ikea designer with one Xbox designer. Muted white, black and beige keep the Scandinavian quiet; Xbox green appears only as guides to pockets and slings.

Full set runs roughly $500-$550 in the US or about £421 in the UK. Availability starts in stores on 1 October 2026; some markets shift online later. Stocks are limited.

Entry pieces sit well under $40. The stool, laptop support, monitor stand, display box, cushion and platter all land in that band. The two castor units and the lounge chair carry most of the full-set cost because they handle movement, storage volume and seating load. Buyers can start small and still get the storage logic without committing to every item at once.

The YXSTABY products arriving October 1 already list exact dimensions and color options on the US site.

The Billy Bookcase Loop Finally Closes

Xbox has used one Ikea product as its silent design referee for years. Ledbetter told IGN the Billy bookcase is the de facto test for every console shape, horizontal or vertical. Fit on the shelf, clear the geometry, and the console can live in ordinary homes.

“Believe it or not, it’s a natural fit,” he said. The shared philosophy of honest materials, scale for millions, and products that solve real problems made the furniture project feel like a continuation rather than a brand exercise.

Flat-pack assembly was the new constraint. Consoles plug in and power on. Furniture arrives in boxes and needs Allen keys. The teams solved that side by side. The result is the reverse flow: controller icons now leave the shelf and become the furniture around the console.

The Billy bookcase as de facto test for console design connection makes the collab less surprising once you hear it.

• 3 billion people game worldwide, many without dedicated rooms
• 25 years of Xbox hardware knowledge fed every piece
• 80-plus years of Ikea home expertise balanced the other side
• One designer from each company on every single item

That pairing rule kept neither side dominant. Ikea brought flat-pack discipline and quiet finishes. Xbox brought input-device geometry and the habit of testing against real shelves. The Billy test already proved consoles could share domestic space. Yxstaby extends the same test to the furniture that surrounds them.

What the Pieces Fix in Real Homes

The press language is clean: bring play into a room and tuck everything away afterwards. The products map to specific daily friction.

• Rolling TV stand moves a full setup (console storage on the back) into the living room then disappears when dinner starts
• Side table on wheels parks next to the sofa so controllers stop living on the armrest; charging hides behind sliding doors
• Toolbox with laptop-stand lid turns any dining table into a temporary station and restores it in one close
• Lounge chair offers two postures, forward intensity and lean-back recovery, plus a webbed pocket that swallows controllers
• Monitor stand lifts screens to eye level, stashes an Xbox Series S underneath, and holds headset, phone and controller

D-pad cushion and platter started as one stool idea. Johan Ejdemo, Ikea head of design, removed the base and turned the seat into a tray. The cushion keeps the X shape in soft green. Both sit quietly among ordinary decor.

Ledbetter noted the chair’s green stitching is almost invisible until you know to look. Second-level and third-level reads reward long-time players without shouting at everyone else in the room.

Mobility does most of the daily work. Castors on the TV stand and side table let a setup appear for an evening session and leave the floor clear again. The laptop support follows the same pattern at table scale: open for play, closed for homework or dinner. Storage is built into the motion rather than added as an afterthought.

Easter Eggs Scattered Through the Range

Wahl likes hidden surprises. Beyond the Älmhult hello inside the stool, green appears only where gear lives. The mirrored display box shows a controller from every angle next to figurines. Clean detailing on the stands follows Xbox’s own “honest materials” rule: nothing extra, nothing loud.

The collection continues the direction Ikea took after its earlier ASUS ROG gaming range of more than 30 products. That 2021 line targeted dedicated PC setups with desks and chairs. Brännboll in 2024 softened the look for living spaces. Yxstaby adds the Xbox identity and solves the “play then disappear” problem more directly.

Official language from the nine-piece YXSTABY collection designed with XBOX stresses visits to real homes where gaming shares space with homework and dinner.

Earlier Gaming Lines Pointed the Way

Yxstaby did not arrive from nowhere. Ikea had already tested two different answers to the same question: where does play belong inside a normal home?

The 2021 line assumed a room set aside for gaming. Brännboll loosened that assumption and brought calmer shapes into the open plan. Yxstaby keeps the calmer palette and adds a stricter rule: once the session ends, controllers, cables and screens should leave the surface clear.

Milan Design Week in 2024 supplied the bridge. Philip Dilé showed the Xbox team the Brännboll pieces there. That meeting started the two years of paired designers, home visits and prototype sessions that produced the nine items now heading to stores. Each step narrowed the brief from “gaming furniture” toward “furniture that lets gaming share the room.”

Who This Collection Is Built For

Accessibility sat in the brief from the start. Ledbetter, who worked on the Adaptive Controller, wanted more people able to use every piece. The lounge chair supports multiple postures. The D-pad cushion doubles as an arm rest during long sessions. The monitor stand improves eye height and keeps peripherals within reach without clutter.

Non-players in the same household get the quieter win: gear that does not dominate the room. Controllers charge out of sight. A full setup rolls away. The stool and cushion look like design objects rather than leftover esports props.

• Players gain tilt motion, under-seat pockets, rolling storage and eye-level screens
• Households gain sliding-door charging, rear console bays and pieces that read as ordinary furniture
• Long sessions gain posture choice on the lounge chair and a soft D-pad arm rest
• Short sessions gain the laptop-support toolbox that opens and closes on a dining table

On X the reaction clustered around the stool. High-engagement posts showed the green version and D-pad pieces; replies talked about saving for October 1, wanting the tilting motion for racing games, and calling the rolling side table the practical sleeper. The novelty lands, but the storage and mobility details are what keep people looking past the first laugh.

Paired Workshops Left Ideas on the Table

Two years of side-by-side work produced more concepts than the first release could hold. Ledbetter still has leftover ideas from the workshops that never made the first nine pieces. Bandwidth, not quality, cut them. Future ranges remain open.

1. 25 years ago – David Wahl queued overnight for the first Xbox and later pulled its controller CAD into furniture tests
2. 2021 – Ikea shipped the ASUS ROG line of more than 30 products for dedicated PC rooms
3. 2024, Milan Design Week – Philip Dilé showed the Xbox team the Brännboll pieces and the joint project began
4. Two years of sessions – paired designers, home visits and prototypes locked the nine-piece brief
5. Gamescom – the Yxstaby range was revealed to the public
6. 1 October – stores begin selling the collection, with online following in most markets

The same constraint that shaped the stool kept running through every other item. Icon recognition had to survive contact with flat-pack cost, shared-room quiet and real assembly steps. Pieces that cleared all three gates made the nine. The rest wait for later bandwidth.

For now the loop is closed: the bookcase that once tested consoles has company in the form of a stool that once was only a thumbstick.

Stores open the range on 1 October. Online follows in most markets. Limited stock means the early shoppers will decide how long the thumbstick stools stay on the floor.