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IKEA announces exciting new collaboration with major video game company: 'Thrilled to be partnering'

IKEA announced that it has partnered with Republic of Gamers to release a new line of gaming furniture.

The Swedish home and office decor manufacturer is famous for its minimalist design and unreasonably cheap meatballs, but gaming is an unprecedented venture for the company. Republic of Gamers is a prestigious distributor of PC gaming hardware and peripherals but it hasn’t had a catalog for adjacent items like chairs, desks or cabinets.

With their powers combined, now we can get Swedish meatballs and maybe a nice desk with some attached outlets.

“ROG is thrilled to be partnering with IKEA to create the ultimate gaming lifestyle for gamers,” Kris Huang, a general manager at ASUS (ROG’s parent company), said in a press release. “Together with IKEA as an expert in home furnishing, we envision that this collaboration will create synergies that empower gamers to build the gaming space they have always imagined in the comfort of their own homes.”

IKEA’s press release said that there will be about 30 products in the line-up but haven’t revealed anything more. It seems safe to assume that there will at least be desks and chairs.

Credit: IKEA
Credit: IKEA

Collaborations like this aren’t new, of course. Herman Miller recently teamed up with Logitech to create a small line of gaming-focused items.

In fact, this IKEA x ROG partnership seems to be a direct response to the HM x Logitech line. IKEA’s press release emphasized how affordable its gaming items will be, whereas the Herman Miller brand is all about high-tier luxury.

The news was met with some good-natured trolling on Reddit.

“Now you can rage quit before you even start playing,” a Redditor said in the /r/esports thread, referring to the frustration that can come with assembling IKEA furniture.

“Råejkwet,” said another Redditor in reply to the first.

“Interesting to see the Skårsborkmältidenvaktjäger Gaming Chair,” another Redditor joked.

Other comments made sarcastic suggestions for couches and ceiling fans with RGB lighting, lampooning the PC gamer stereotype of adding RGB lighting to everything from terminals to keyboards.

But in all seriousness, this partnership has sparked some genuine interest and could service a lot of consumers who want some nice desks and chairs for their gaming setups but don’t have the thousands of dollars needed for an Aeron chair or a Motia desk.

The IKEA x ROG gaming line is set to launch on February 2021 in China and October 2021 in other markets.

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