When you think of Ikea and gaming, those two words don’t seem to belong together. But that is about to change as the Swedish furniture maker has announced it is collaborating with Asus’ Republic of Gamers (ROG) division to make a new line of “affordable gaming furniture accessories”.
The move is hardly surprising given that one-fourth of the global population, about 2.5 billion are gamers according to a recent global games market report. With the rapid growth of the gaming market across the world, Ikea realises that this is a sizable market that is largely untapped.
Last year, Ikea began to explore the world of gaming and has ramped up efforts this year. The two companies said they aim to develop a new range of affordable and ergonomic gaming furniture and accessories.
The new products are being developed in the Ikea Product Development Centre in Shanghai. The Ikea and ROG designers have had several workshops together with professional gamers and gaming fans in Shanghai to get a sense of their wants and needs.
Ikea has kept things vague about what kind of products it would be making. But considering that they are trying to appeal to a PC gaming market, chairs and desks would be a good bet.
The company said it sees gaming as “cross-demographic”, which seems to hint this new range of gaming furniture from the two companies would need to blend with the rest of your home.
But Ikea and ROG are far from the only companies collaborating together to create products that appeal to gamers. Acer also recently collaborated with Osim to make a gaming massage chair. Logitech did something similar by teaming up with American furniture maker Herman Miller to design a gaming chair that would look right at home in an office.
The new range will consist of 30 new products and they are expected to be launched in February 2021 in China. As for the rest of the world, Ikea expects to ship the new products out to its other markets by October 2021.
So what do you think? Are you excited to see what Ikea and ROG will come up with? Would you buy their furniture and accessories? Let us know in the comments section.
