IKEA is a universal brand known for aggressively priced furniture. Whether it’s memes about struggling to build their chairs or comments about their meatballs, everyone knows IKEA.
Until recently, the retail giant was the home of the classic ‘gaming spaces’ where a fake console was placed under a TV to show that Mom and Dad could hook the kids up downstairs, and that was as far as it went. Which made it a surprise when they teamed up with Republic of Gamers (ROG) to release a new ‘for gamers’ line of desk furniture and accessories.
Is IKEA’s New Line a Game Changer?
No. Let’s get that out of the way. Though IKEA has rarely directly marketed to gamers, there were millions of players practicing and grinding solo queue from IKEA branded desks or resting their equipment on IKEA shelving.
IKEA is new to the gaming space, but they’ve been part of the home-office lineup for a long time and that market has always had a huge crossover with gamers. (I’m writing this article on a LEGKAPTEN.) Cheap home office supplies have been a mainstay of battle stations since computers could play games. The new ROG line might be gamer branded, but it’s not as if we’re adding a whole new company to gamer retail options.
Why IKEA’s ROG Line is Important
As esports and games, in general, have entered the mainstream, companies have popped up to support the culture with luxury items and boutique gamer furniture. While it’s awesome that Secret Lab works with our favorite companies to make branded gaming chairs. (I’m writing this from a 2020 LCS Branded Omega.) No matter how cool all of these custom items are though, they are limited by being prohibitively expensive to a lot of people.
For every LED flooded battle station with a RTX3080 and custom-made stream deck, there are lots of people who can’t afford that sort of setup. Whether kids are getting into esports for the first time or master’s students saving for tuition, gaming is an accessible, low-cost hobby once you have the initial console/computer.
Free-to-play games are immensely accessible and popular making the entry point into esports and gaming low, but the aesthetic of the hobby has always been premium.
Many gaming brands are getting cheaper, but most popular gaming chairs are still going to set you back at least $400.00. The same can be said for desks and storage solutions marketed towards esports, as well as hand warmers for gamers. Compared to the home office equivalent, the gamer aesthetic is pricey.
This also makes sense, we’re talking about boutique products. The critical part about IKEA entering the game is that they bucked the trend and just made IKEA furniture that happens to have a different aesthetic. The ROG branded pegboard costs the same around as the classic SKÅDIS.
Is IKEA’s New Gaming Furniture Good?
The short answer is yes. It’s IKEA furniture and comes with all the benefits and the downsides that come with that. Is it going to last forever? Unlikely. Is it going to have a good look and be more than sturdy enough to be a desk? Absolutely. That said if we get into specifics:
IKEA UTESPELARE
The UTESPELARE is the newest edition to IKEA’s line of simple slab desks, but it has two critical changes that make it a phenomenal addition to their lineup and to gaming desk options. The first difference is that the entire back of the desk is a metal grate instead of continuing the flat slab through the entire way. This kills the main disadvantage of some of their other products, because it gives higher-end setups a place to dump heat. On top of that, the desk has adjustable height (as all should but some don’t) and its top is extremely solid but fingerprint vulnerable. Overall the piece is an upgrade over most desks on the market at a similar price point, especially if you’re trying to find another ‘gaming branded’ one. It’s the stand out of the line, even if you’re going to need a computer mat to keep the surface clean.
IKEA LÅNESPELARE
The gaming line has come with a whole cavalcade of additional accessories for the IKEA catalogue. By far my favorite is the LÅNESPELARE, which on top of being fun to say is an extremely large mouse pad. It’s thick, feels smooth on the wrists and with the mouse, and frankly, I’ve never seen one that large for that good a price. It was sold out at my local IKEA, or I would have bought one for personal use. Most of the other accessories, from headphone holders to stainless steel cups that are part of the line fall into the category of ‘getting the job done.’ If you happen to need a cup, it’s a good cup, but you don’t need to drive to your local IKEA to get them. The only disappointing accessory to me was the mouse-cord organizer, mostly because I desperately need one, but as it is, the actual organizer itself isn’t stable enough and was prone to falling over or sliding around during testing, which ruins the point of having an organizer in the first place.
IKEA HUVUDSPELARE
This honestly isn’t IKEA’s fault. Chairs have always been the space where all of the gaming products are mostly outmatched by their office price point equivalent. The new ROG x IKEA chairs are certain chairs, but they are simply several new options in the IKEA line as opposed to a standout that gamers should be looking for. If you’re buying your chair at IKEA, check out the full section instead of focusing on the small little gamer space they’ve carved out in the corner.
What’s the Verdict on IKEA’s ROG Line?
The line is a fantastic budget alternative to a lot of the boutique aesthetics within the gaming hobby. It’s not going to completely dethrone the heads of the industry, but it’s opening doors, and we’re all about that. More access means more opponents and lower queue times.