8 Video Game Product Placements So Good We Bought In

2. IKEA (The Sims 2)

Lunafreya Final Fantasy XV Cup Noodles
EA

For many of the ardent diamond clickers plunging hundreds of hours into Will Wright's sequel to the smash hit The Sims, the pleasure didn't come from its voyeurism but the opportunity to indulge in unrestricted fantasy home building. It was less about the people Big Brother was watching, but the Big Brother house itself.

While the hundreds of interior decorating options provided by Maxis in the base game and any one of its ten million item packs were fine, there was one expansion amateur Laurence Llewelyn-Bowens out there craved. As insidious as it was, it was impossible to deny the obvious synergy between Sims 2 and Scandi home decor giants IKEA, when the pair teamed up for a tasteful middle-classtastic flatpack off the back of EA's previous clothing affiliation with H&M.

The 'game', if you can call it that, absolutely flew off the shelves - and particularly in Sweden, where it topped charts for two whole weeks.

Editorial Team
Editorial Team

Benjamin was born in 1987, and is still not dead. He variously enjoys classical music, old-school adventure games (they're not dead), and walks on the beach (albeit short - asthma, you know). He's currently trying to compile a comprehensive history of video game music, yet denies accusations that he purposefully targets niche audiences. He's often wrong about these things.