Ikea has launched its first foray into gaming furniture.
The Swedish company partnered with PC maker Asus to develop 30-plus products, which are on sale now in China and will launch globally in October. The furniture, first teased last fall, includes gaming chairs, gaming desks, a mug holder, a mousepad, and more.
The products are affordable relative to some of the competition. For example, the Matchspel gaming chair is retailing in China for 999 yuan ($154) when other gaming chairs usually go for over $400.
According to Ikea, the Matchspel is ergonomically optimized to help you sit comfortably and game at your peak. For customers who want to spend less, the company developed the $108 Utespelare and the $46 Huvudspelare gaming chairs, which both nix the headrest.
On the gaming desk front, Ikea has created the Uppspel, which starts at $588. It can be adjusted at four different height positions, and also comes with a USB charging port.
Other interesting products include a four-wheel stand you can place your CPU on, and a neck pillow to help you relax between games. As The Verge notes, there’s also a strange wooden hand that’s intended to grip your cables or headsets. (The company has cataloged all the products on an English language webpage.)
Ikea sees a major market in gaming-related furniture. During the pandemic, people’s gaming habits have only soared amid a surging demand for PCs, especially laptops. “With an ever-increasing number of gamers worldwide and a rapidly growing market, getting into gaming was a natural step for Ikea,” the company said in the announcement.
As for Asus, the vendor is hoping the partnership will help expose more gamers to its gaming sub-brand, ROG, which develops laptops, graphics cards, and motherboards.
