SCE boss Kaz Hirai has explained Sony’s decision to ditch the controversial Spider-man font in its PlayStation 3 logo and revert to a more compact ‘PS3’ for its new slimline console.

“We wanted to make sure that we set a new direction for the PS3,” Hirai told The Times Online. “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.

“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.”

It was revealed in 2007 that the PlayStation 3’s use of the Spider-man movie font came about thanks to former PlayStation headman Ken Kutaragi. PS3 designer Teiyu Goto explained at the time:

“It was also the wish of Kutaragi-san, who insisted that I use this typography. In fact, the logo was one of the first elements he decided on and the logo may have been the motivating force behind the shape of PS3.

"We created the PS2 logo to blend in with the rectangular shape of the console. Personally, I feel very strongly that the logo would not have looked right on PS3.”