IKEA Develops a Line of Items for Gamers
In 2020, the IKEA chain will offer products from the UPPKOPPLA series. These will be personalized gadgets designed for gamers to improve the comfort of playing.
The number of gamers is growing year by year. Many of them are constantly looking for ways to improve their experience of dealing with different games. This is where the well-known Swedish chain of furniture and decoration stores IKEA comes in handy. It has established partnerships with UNYQ (specializing in 3D printing personalised prosthesises and aids for people suffering from scoliosis, for example, using advanced body scanning technology), and Area Academy (which develops structures, programs and courses related to e-sport) to create prototypes of the UPPKOPPLA gaming product line. They were presented together with a special application for collecting biometric information during the annual IKEA project conference. Gadgets are expected to be on sale in 2020. According to Engadget, we will only be able to buy them online.
At the moment we know about three products belonging to the UPPKOPPLA line. The first one is a special wrist rest, which is designed to improve the comfort of using the mouse and keyboard and prevent straining of this part of the hand. We will create it using our smartphone, which will scan our hand and adjust the gadget accordingly. The second product is a keyboard pad to prevent the fingers from slipping, and the third is a mouse cable holder, which, according to the idea, significantly increases the precision of movement.
IKEA's aim is to diversify its offer and to introduce articles for gamers with a quality that only professionals could afford. To quote Michael Nikolic, creative director of the Swedish IKEA branch.
This is an exciting opportunity to create products that can be customized for people with special needs. We look forward to the opportunity to introduce personalized article lines for more groups of people.
In addition, the experience gained during the production of these gadgets can help the company discover new solutions to relieve people with disabilities and different physical limitations. If that is the case, then we can only keep our fingers crossed for the success of this project.
