So we’re going to get into all these pieces and kind of learn more about the collection.
But before we get into it, I want to know from each of you, pick your favorite child from this collection, starting with you, Philip.
PHILIP DILE: So I really like the TV stand.
I’m so happy how it came out.
When I game, I really want to have the best seat in the house.
And that’s not necessarily, you know, the TV on the wall.
So I want to just roll it up.
I also like the fact that the best part of it is actually not what you’re seeing.
It’s what’s behind the TV.
It’s that organization.
It’s the cable management.
And that’s where we brought a little bit of, like, IKEA organizational smarts, then working with Carl and the team to make it a great thing for gaming and how to organize all the gear and make sure that it fits, you know, the consoles and controllers, your headphones can hang back there.
It’s a great piece and at a really good price, I would say, as well.
MALIK PRINCE: There you go.
Always selling.
I love that.
You should see the cord management or lack thereof that’s happening in my apartment.
Carl, your favorite.
CARL LEDBETTER: Well, if it’s not just about the innovation and something like the TV stand, like what just feels good.
And I happen to have one right here.
It’s the pillow.
MALIK PRINCE: Is it an X?
CARL LEDBETTER: It’s inspired by the D-PAD, for sure.
There’s a lot to talk about with it.
It feels good.
We’re going to get into the entire collection, so let’s check it out, shall we?
Yeah.
PHILIP DILE: Let’s do it.
MALIK PRINCE: All right.
We’re back with Carl and David.
David, great to see you.
What you have in your hand is self-explanatory but also probably pretty intricate.
Tell me a little bit about this.
DAVID WAHL: So what we have here is the D-PAD cushion, and it’s really a favorite of mine.
It’s basically an enlarged version of the D-PAD that we find on the controller.
MALIK PRINCE: Again, another example of really thoughtful design taking cues from gaming.
As you all were ideating on this, I’m sure there were tons of iterations, tons of different prototypes, if you want to call it that.
How did you land on what we have here today?
CARL LEDBETTER: Well, one of the things that’s really cool about this cushion is when we were developing it and prototyping it, we started to watch people interact with it.
So there’s, of course, the cushiness of it, but people started to use it to play.
And what it does is it puts you in a more upright posture.
MALIK PRINCE: With a little extra support.
CARL LEDBETTER: Yeah, a little extra support.
And so then we started to really look at the materials inside to give it a little bit more structure so it holds up to play.
It’s too bad Daria isn’t here.
She’s the textile designer from IKEA, and she was really integral in designing this cushion as well.
But one of the things that she was just a stickler about was getting this piping just right.
The shape is actually fairly complex, but keeping this shape consistent required doing some special tricks to this piping.
MALIK PRINCE: It’s been here.
I haven’t touched it.
May I?
DAVID WAHL: Go ahead.
CARL LEDBETTER: Give it a try.
MALIK PRINCE: Ooh, I like it.
It’s comfy.
Maybe like Friday night when I’m playing Life is Strange in my feels, crying, like a cup of coffee, cup of coffee at night.
No, this is really nice.
If you don’t mind, I’m just going to — you didn’t see anything.
You didn’t see anything.
We’re going to go on to the next one.
All right.
Back with Elliot and David to talk about this gaming stool that you have right here in front of me.
I’ve been sitting on it the entire episode, by the way, if that’s a testament to its comfort.
But you two designed this.
How — I hate to ask the question this way.
But how do you design something for a butt that’s typically designed for a thumb?
ELLIOT HSU: Well, that was one of the things we wanted to do, especially with this collection is bring something that was very, very iconic in XBOX into the world of furniture.
We spend enormous amount of development on making the thumbstick as comfortable as possible for a long play, gaming play.
And then we handed over the CAD to our partners at IKEA, and then we said, how do you make this into a seating product?
DAVID WAHL: So I received the CAD and immediately scale it up and found it looks really funny once you kind of scale.
It’s totally out of proportion.
So really the task was to find the sweet spot between making it a stool but still looks like a thumbstick.
MALIK PRINCE: It’s a statement piece, I feel like it’s a statement piece.
But in addition, I’ve been sitting on it.
It rocks a little bit.
What was the decision like to make it rotate?
DAVID WAHL: Yeah, I mean, the thumbstick moves and we like the active seating of a stool that also moves.
We were in Helmholtz having the workshop together where we tried out 3D printed samples.
We had, like CNC samples, tried different materials, different curvature of the seat.
Like you mentioned, the diamond pattern.
If you scale that up, it would be really uncomfortable to sit on.
So kind of smoothing it out, making sure that it have the right curvature, and also making it rock just enough to make it comfortable.
MALIK PRINCE: So, Elliot, what other details kind of transferred from the controller over to the stool?
ELLIOT HSU: One of the great things that David did was actually take a lot of the spirit and additional details in XBOX.
So even, you know, this detail underneath the rubber rings here that help for grip and stability were actually taken from another thumbstick topper from our Elite Series 2 controller.
And also, David was able to take the spirit of XBOX.
We love Easter eggs.
We love putting little surprises.
There are several details and Easter eggs molded into this thumbstick stool.
DAVID WAHL: One of them is an Easter egg that you will only find before you assemble it.
After that, it’s too late.
It’s gone forever.
MALIK PRINCE: It’s gone forever.
All right.
Well, all of you out there, before you put your stool together, be sure to take a quick and thorough look.
You might just find out some secrets around.
I love the idea of making it fun.
And I love that it transferred over into the stool.
ELLIOT HSU: Yeah, and the stool is just, you know, it’s probably the most playful, the most delightful product and iconic for XBOX.
So it’s a great centerpiece for the collection.
MALIK PRINCE: Elliot, David, thank you so much for showcasing the thumbstick controller.
I feel like I can take this one and this one and we find a giant controller and fix it, put it together.
No?
That was a joke.
It’s fine.
I’m excited.
Be sure to pick this up.
It is going to be a nice statement piece for your home.
Thank you, guys, so much for showing it.
DAVID WAHL: Thanks for having us.
MALIK PRINCE: All right, I am here with Ryan and Lucas, because we’re going to be talking about gaming chairs.
Gentlemen, typical gaming chairs, they have a very distinct look.
I think everyone can kind of — if you say gaming chairs, people have an idea of what that means in their heads.
You all got together to design what I think is something new and innovative in the scene.
Tell me about it.
RYAN WHITAKER: Yeah, I think we wanted something that didn’t scream gaming chair, that would fit basically into any home or living room, but that would still solve a lot of the problems that you have when you’re trying to game, get comfortable, and really get into — be immersed in your game.
LUCAS BAZLE: Like problems we wanted to solve with it is, of course, the ergonomics.
So in gaming, that’s also what I learned.
It’s about like cozy and leaning back.
So here we have a really good angle.
We have the cushion, but then it’s also like leaning forwards and be like really active in the game.
And then also, of course, the active seating.
So we have the counter lever, so it has some movement.
You can be in the game, and it’s quite nice to have that.
MALIK PRINCE: Which is so important because when I’m playing, especially a first-person shooter, it’s like I’m in the game.
I’m moving all around, like getting that feedback and making sure that the chair has a little give is really important, which gets to the point of functionality in addition to just design, right?
You all have like a magic trick.
LUCAS BAZLE: Yeah, exactly.
If we go under, we have a pocket where you can store away controller, but of course also other things, remote controls, whatever you have.
MALIK PRINCE: Yeah, it’s part of the gamer’s sort of cycle of, hey, where do I put this when I need to set it down for a second?
Where can I put it for storage for the next time I want to pick up a gaming session, which is probably super important for you all to implement.
RYAN WHITAKER: Yeah, I mean, you don’t want to set this on the floor and it gets damaged or anything like that.
So you want to make sure that it’s safe.
MALIK PRINCE: It’s nice and (inaudible).
LUCAS BAZLE: We also had a lot of people in mind, like maybe a couple where one is a gamer, the other one is not really.
So how to do that, how to organize that in every day.
So it’s easier to store things away, have a different setup, and then come back to it again.
RYAN WHITAKER: Yeah, and it’s nice and light too, so you can just like move it around pretty easily.
Just one-handed, just take it from one end of the room to the other.
MALIK PRINCE: I don’t think we talked about the green stitching.
LUCAS BAZLE: Yeah, we have the stitching here.
We want to bring in some green, but of course like a full-on green chair is maybe a bit hard in a living room.
So we worked with these stitching lines and we have some other details on the pocket under the seat.
RYAN WHITAKER: It’s pretty subtle, but if you know what you’re looking for and if you know, you know, it’s there.
MALIK PRINCE: That’s – if you know, you know.
I think that’s like the ultimate summary of this segment.
This is incredible.
I will take two of these.
Thank you.
And let’s go to the next one.
[ Music ]
All right, back with Ryan and David, and we are going to be talking about something that’s been hiding in plain sight.
It’s the gaming D-PAD controller platter here in front of us.
Gentlemen, tell me about this product and where’s the inspiration coming from?
RYAN WHITAKER: The inspiration for this one came from the Elite faceted D-PAD.
MALIK PRINCE: One of my favorites.
RYAN WHITAKER: Yeah.
So here we’ve got the Call of Duty Elite controller.
That’s got the D-PAD on there.
And we went through quite a bit of iteration on this one, right?
DAVID WAHL: Yeah.
I mean, to begin with, we thought this would be nice as a stool, but then we already had the stool in the collection, so there were a little bit too many stools.
And then we thought like, hey, this is really nice shape.
We should keep this and maybe turn it into a nice object.
MALIK PRINCE: And there it is.
I love the idea of that thought process, because I could think of that as like a side table.
There’s probably so many ways that you could land on a piece like that and how it shows up in the collection.
But let’s check this out.
Let’s see it.
Now, this is stainless steel.
I’m sure there were different materials that you all thought about for this.
Why did you end up landing on stainless steel?
RYAN WHITAKER: Man, we tried so many different materials, right?
DAVID WAHL: Yeah.
From the start, we had the pressed wood, so wood veneer.
We tried felt.
We had clear glass, colored glass.
And I think this is really the best choice.
MALIK PRINCE: Yeah.
The stainless steel really makes it kind of feel high-end.
RYAN WHITAKER: I love that.
That is so nice.
MALIK PRINCE: Can I check it out?
RYAN WHITAKER: Yeah, go for it.
MALIK PRINCE: I haven’t picked it up yet.
Ooh.
Got that mirror finish.
It’s got kind of the disco ball effect.
If you get enough lights on it.
RYAN WHITAKER: Oh, yeah.
MALIK PRINCE: I see.
I kind of get that feel.
Love it.
I’m just going to put that right back here.
[ Laughter ]
Okay.
Ryan and David, thank you so much for showing us this controller platter.
Great job on it.
RYAN WHITAKER: Yeah, thanks.
DAVID WAHL: Thanks.
MALIK PRINCE: All right.
This next item, I’m personally the most excited for.
All of them are great, but this is something I’ve been looking forward to for so long as someone with 30 controllers.
I know Carl’s like 30, what a junior.
But no, this is something I’m really excited for, the gaming controller display box.
Lucas, Carl, tell me all about how this came to be.
LUCAS BAZLE: I mean, that was one big thing I learned when we talked to you and your team, that the controller is such an important piece.
It’s also such a personal piece, so people collect it and have many.
So we wanted to do something to highlight and showcase the controller.
CARL LEDBETTER: So, you’re right.
Your junior collection.
I’ve got a few more on you.
MALIK PRINCE: Probably like a couple hundred, maybe.
CARL LEDBETTER: I just happen to have one right here, the Doom, the Dark Ages controller.
MALIK PRINCE: Should we show how it works?
CARL LEDBETTER: Yeah.
So maybe, Lucas, you can put it in there.
But what’s really cool is people get these controllers, and they’re a personal expression of who they are and what they care about.
And then there needs to be a place for it.
But now there’s an actual curated product that’s designed for showing your controller.
And one of my favorite things, I don’t know if you can see it, but like this controller, it actually has a leather-inspired back to it that you can’t see from the front.
But because there’s a mirror surface on the back, you can just see it.
MALIK PRINCE: I think players who end up picking this up are going to love to hear that that level of thought went into making this, because a lot of what’s going to be going into this are controllers that people have real sentimental feelings towards, and a lot of controllers that you and the team have made.
So I love this.
But I’m sure you can display other things in here if you want.
It doesn’t have to just be controllers, right?
LUCAS BAZLE: Exactly.
I mean, that was one big, other topic.
People have so many objects that they really like and want to showcase.
So you can take out that hook here, and then it’s just a box.
You can have it like this or like this, and then your collective pieces.
CARL LEDBETTER: So you could have your Halo-inspired controller and maybe a Master Chief figurine right next to it.
MALIK PRINCE: I love it.
I love it.
I’ll take three.
(Laughter.) RYAN WHITAKER: Also comes in white.
MALIK PRINCE: And it comes in white.
Okay.
And so you can mix and match and make it really nice.
I love this.
This is great.
The gaming controller display box in the IKEA collection.
Pick it up.
[ Music ]
All right, Carl and Philip, we’ve seen all the products.
Incredible.
And again, as someone who has nothing in their apartment, I call it minimalist.
It’s just to be a little positive.
I’m really excited for this collection.
I genuinely am.
It’s just to add a little bit of pop to my apartment and my space.
And so as we go into this landing in people’s living rooms and their spaces, how are you feeling knowing that it’s going to start to show up and start to become a part of people’s lives?
PHILIP DILE: I’m feeling great.
I’m very much looking forward to seeing it in people’s homes, making their gaming experience better and also their homes more personal, beautiful.
That’s really important.
MALIK PRINCE: It’s the IKEA way.
PHILIP DILE: Yeah.
CARL LEDBETTER: It’s been a long journey working together on this.
And the whole team is really looking forward to seeing them land in people’s homes, and to see how it impacts the way they play, and who they play with, and the environment that they’re playing in.
MALIK PRINCE: This is like a match made in heaven.
You know, we talk about how passionate players are and the experiences that they have.
And almost just as importantly is the space around them.
And you all have done an incredible job coming together and building out a collection that I know people are going to love.
So, like I said, you’re going to love it.
So be sure to check it out when it hits your IKEA very soon.
Thank you so much for watching the official XBOX podcast.
Carl, Philip, thank you for joining me today.
And we will see you all next time.
[ Music ]
[ XBOX sound ]