--- title: "The IKEA × Xbox stool tilts like a thumbstick — your legs do the recentering" locale: "en" url: "https://irz.fr/en/articles/yxstaby-thumbstick-stool-en" markdown_url: "https://irz.fr/en/articles/yxstaby-thumbstick-stool-en.md" category: "craft" tags: ["design", "video games", "IKEA", "Xbox", "furniture", "ergonomics"] published_at: "2026-08-29T09:30:00.000Z" author: "Hugo Marchal" translation: "https://irz.fr/fr/articles/yxstaby-thumbstick-stool-fr.md" --- # The IKEA × Xbox stool tilts like a thumbstick — your legs do the recentering IKEA and Xbox built a stool from the controller stick's original 3D files. It tilts in every direction, but nothing brings it back to center: that job is yours. It looks like a thumbstick. And it actually behaves like one: the base is rounded, so the stool tilts in every direction, the way the stick that inspired it does. Not a look, a mechanism.[4](https://www.tomsguide.com/gaming/i-sat-on-all-the-ikea-x-xbox-furniture-its-the-ultimate-stealth-gaming-upgrade) The collection goes by YXSTABY: nine pieces from IKEA and Xbox, unveiled at Gamescom in August 2026.[1](https://www.ikea.com/global/en/newsroom/collaborations/ikea-xbox-launch-the-yxstaby-collection-260826/)[2](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/08/26/xbox-and-ikea-make-room-for-play-with-the-new-yxstaby-collection/) For the stool, the designers started from the stick's original 3D files, working with Xbox device designers. Something a thumb once pushed turns into a seat.[1](https://www.ikea.com/global/en/newsroom/collaborations/ikea-xbox-launch-the-yxstaby-collection-260826/) ## The gesture that survives Two details of the stick cross the scale change. The seat top keeps the diamond pattern of the grip.[3](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/yxstaby-gaming-thumb-stick-stool-green-80628950/) The texture built to stop a thumb from slipping now holds a person in place.[1](https://www.ikea.com/global/en/newsroom/collaborations/ikea-xbox-launch-the-yxstaby-collection-260826/)[3](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/yxstaby-gaming-thumb-stick-stool-green-80628950/) Tom's Guide journalists sat on the whole collection. Double effect confirmed: the base tips with you, the rounded grip at the edge keeps you from sliding off.[4](https://www.tomsguide.com/gaming/i-sat-on-all-the-ikea-x-xbox-furniture-its-the-ultimate-stealth-gaming-upgrade) > Illustration: Person sitting on the green YXSTABY stool, an Xbox controller lying next to it. Tom's Guide's independent test confirms the stool tilts and the edge grip prevents sliding off. Credit: [IKEA / Inter IKEA Systems B.V.](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/yxstaby-gaming-thumb-stick-stool-green-80628950/). ## The missing spring The thumbstick's geometry is what gives the stool its freedom. An analog stick pivots on its axis, then a spring pulls it back to center. The stool keeps the first half of that cycle: its rounded base tips with whoever is sitting on it.[4](https://www.tomsguide.com/gaming/i-sat-on-all-the-ikea-x-xbox-furniture-its-the-ultimate-stealth-gaming-upgrade) The second half is gone. Nothing recenters the stool — the product page says balance is maintained by keeping your feet on the floor.[3](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/yxstaby-gaming-thumb-stick-stool-green-80628950/) Which is the idea's hard limit, and also its best argument. $49.99 in the US. Diameter: 14 ¾ inches. Height: 17 ⅜ inches. Rated load: 110 kg.[3](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/yxstaby-gaming-thumb-stick-stool-green-80628950/) Seat and pole are polypropylene with at least 50% recycled content; the base is recycled polypropylene plus synthetic rubber.[3](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/yxstaby-gaming-thumb-stick-stool-green-80628950/) ## The press release and the test IKEA designer David Wahl describes a piece that tilts with you while you play.[1](https://www.ikea.com/global/en/newsroom/collaborations/ikea-xbox-launch-the-yxstaby-collection-260826/) XBOX Wire talks about a collection that makes room for play in the living room.[2](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/08/26/xbox-and-ikea-make-room-for-play-with-the-new-yxstaby-collection/) Both are communications, not measurements: no one publishes a multi-hour comfort test, or any data on how the tilting system ages. > Illustration: Green YXSTABY stool in a living room, near a round table and a controller. The collection targets the living room, not a dedicated gaming corner: the piece should feel at home once the session is over. Credit: [IKEA / Inter IKEA Systems B.V.](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/yxstaby-gaming-thumb-stick-stool-green-80628950/). Then there is the independent test. Tom's Guide confirms exactly what the product page promises: a base that tips, a rim that holds you.[4](https://www.tomsguide.com/gaming/i-sat-on-all-the-ikea-x-xbox-furniture-its-the-ultimate-stealth-gaming-upgrade) The movement is not a sales pitch in the void. ## The reference is no longer performance IKEA already knew gaming furniture. Back in October 2021, it launched with ASUS Republic of Gamers a range of more than 30 products across six families: desks, seating, accessories aimed at PC players.[5](https://www.ikea.com/global/en/newsroom/collaborations/gaming-collection-210916/) Performance was the language back then. Designer Jon Karlsson summed up the ambition as making gamers better athletes.[5](https://www.ikea.com/global/en/newsroom/collaborations/gaming-collection-210916/) YXSTABY drops that language. The reference is no longer gear that optimizes your session — it is the controller itself, blown up and bent to another use. The stool does not promise a better posture; it asks you to relive the thumb's gesture at the scale of a body. A want, a nostalgia, a texture detail: the collection sells an icon, not a workout. ## What transfers The method transfers well. Take a component tuned at the scale of a thumb, blow it up to the scale of a body, transfer only part of its functions: the grip becomes anti-slip, the travel becomes a tilt. What does not transfer is the return spring. The stool leans, and the balancing stays with the user. And none of the source files ship with the product: the process remains an inspiration, not a plan you could copy. For a fabricator, that last point may be the most interesting: knowing what to drop when you change scale is worth as much as knowing what to keep. ## References 1. [IKEA Global newsroom, YXSTABY gaming collection designed with XBOX, Aug 26, 2026](https://www.ikea.com/global/en/newsroom/collaborations/ikea-xbox-launch-the-yxstaby-collection-260826/) 2. [XBOX Wire, XBOX and IKEA Make Room for Play with the New YXSTABY Collection, Aug 26, 2026](https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2026/08/26/xbox-and-ikea-make-room-for-play-with-the-new-yxstaby-collection/) 3. [IKEA US product page, YXSTABY Gaming thumb stick stool, green, viewed Aug 2026](https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/yxstaby-gaming-thumb-stick-stool-green-80628950/) 4. [Tom's Guide, I sat on all the IKEA x Xbox furniture — it's the ultimate stealth gaming upgrade, Aug 27, 2026](https://www.tomsguide.com/gaming/i-sat-on-all-the-ikea-x-xbox-furniture-its-the-ultimate-stealth-gaming-upgrade) 5. [IKEA Global newsroom, Furniture that puts gaming first (range with ASUS ROG), Sep 16, 2021](https://www.ikea.com/global/en/newsroom/collaborations/gaming-collection-210916/)