Working alongside American 3D design company Unyq, and Swedish based educational activities company Area Academy, Ikea will produce a line of furniture designed specifically for esports.
Area Academy organise camps for esports in collaboration with schools that wish to use esports as a tool to educate children. The company has used its esports expertise to assemble a panel of esports people from older pros to young future stars to advise Unyq and Ikea about how to create the furniture.
Speaking about the partnership, Tommy “Potti” Ingemarsson, CEO of Area Academy had this to say: “When designing for esports players, one must remember that a gamer is not just a youth. Many people who play are actually in their 30s. The idea of this and the cooperation with Unyq is that you can scan your body and customize the furniture for each individual, users can also adjusting colour and appearance”
He continued “I spent several years sitting on a kitchen chair when I started playing and it was not very good. The furniture is a big part of everyday life for an esports player and using the wrong furniture can damage both your back and your posture.”
Ikea has clearly seen a huge market that they can sell to, in this young and mostly online demographic, Ikea stated that: “There are about 2 billion gamers around the world and that group needs functional ergonomic, tailored furniture for their everyday lives. The purpose of the new furniture collection is to explore how personalisation and home decoration can change the lives of all gamers out there”
Marcus Engman, Design Manager at Ikea had this to say: “We are curious about how furniture combined with technology can improve gaming and life around it. We think we’ve found the right players to collaborate with to succeed.”
Esports Insider says: This is huge for everyone involved, it cannot be understated how big of a deal Ikea is in Sweden, so getting them involved in esports, even just making furniture is massive. If this experiment works from an Ikea point of view, the possibilities are endless for what the future could hold.