I was looking for a new game to play since the Battlefield beta was over, and The Sims popped up on my Xbox dashboard. What started as curiosity turned into a full-on deep dive. I built my Sim, “Anita,” played until she got promoted, got married, and then, in true Sims fashion, burned it all down. Somewhere in that chaos, and after redecorating my house for the fifth time, I had this fleeting thought: "how cool would it be to have a Cowplant sitting next to my real plants" or "to chill in that mushroom chair?" I started looking online, expecting to find something for Sims fans, but there was nothing.

That’s when it clicked. What if The Sims teamed up with IKEA to bring its most iconic items into the real world?