At GamesCom, the PS3 wasn’t the only thing that got smaller. The entire PlayStation 3 branding was revamped to improve visibility. According to Kazuo Hirai, “when you have PlayStation 3 spelt out, the aspect ratio was such that if you wanted it on a billboard it became tiny. It didn’t work in terms of visibility.” The logo no longer uses the Spiderman font to sell out the entire system name; instead, it is now just “PS3” and uses a new font.
Kazuo Hirai on PlayStation 3 rebranding:
“We wanted to make sure that we set a new direction for the PS3. The PS logo with the capital P and small S has always been our logo, has always been synonymous with video games and I wanted to reset the thinking. Also internally I wanted to send the message internally that we are resetting the thinking, going back to our roots. What better way to do it than by resetting the logo? That puts the entire organisation on its toes. On a practical level, when you have PlayStation 3 spelt out, the aspect ratio was such that if you wanted it on a billboard it became tiny. It didn’t work in terms of visibility.”