IKEA is hoping to capitalize on gaming with a new furniture line

If you’re a gamer with a design bug, IKEA thinks you’ll love its new range of ‘gaming furniture’, due to hit stores in September 2024.

The furniture giant says 20 pieces Pranpool Group It “challenges traditional gaming design” and should coexist more peacefully in aesthetic harmony within your home than, say, a Secretlab gaming chair.

But the group feels more like a brilliant marketing ploy than a real attempt to meet players where they are. Much of Brännboll’s furniture looks like regular old IKEA, complete with an Asus ROG Ally controller or Meta Quest 2 VR headset. The gaming market is currently valued at approx $282 billion in the United States alone IKEA’s only previous foray into the industry was a small line of… Black and red gaming furniture In 2021.

The tall standing cabinet has a hidden fold-out table top with PC and monitor storage.
Credit: IKEA

The spinning wheel stores gaming technology and accessories.
Credit: IKEA

Some of the pieces actually make sense for gamers, like the tall cabinet that opens to reveal a fold-out table top with PC and monitor storage (it’s also a handy piece for people who work at home). The second item, a green office chair, is similar in design to the type of traditional gaming chairs that IKEA claims it will move away from. The third piece, “Easy Chair,” is described as providing “a new dynamic component to the virtual gaming experience” by engag.[ing] “The player physically, sways from side to side in sync with his movement.”

The core of Brännboll is a comfortable chair and several low-to-the-floor stools, including an inflatable donut-shaped mixture so light it can be hung from a hook on the wall. A mouse pad, rug, and storage solutions such as a wall-mounted cabinet, a wheel on wheels, and a multifunctional basket complete the set.