Is the PlayStation 3 too big?

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Programming legend says PS3 is too fat for Japanese homes

The PS3 has sold poorly in Japan - price and physical size are to blame

The PlayStation 3 is selling poorly because it's just too large for the living room. That's what Japanese games programmer Masaya Matsuura said in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz .

The problem with the PS3 is not that it is too expensive, but that it is just physically too large, said the Parappa the Rapper creator at the Nordic Games conference. "It's too big for the Japanese," he said in the interview .

Many Japanese homes are quite small and it's often not convenient to have beefy games consoles in the living rooms. This is apparently one of the main reasons behind the original Xbox's underperformance in Japan.

Poor sales

The PS3 console has so far sold poorly in Japan and the USA, with European sales the only real victory for Sony thus far. It's sold over 800,000 PlayStation 3 units since its launch in Europe eight weeks ago.

Worldwide PS3 sales are closing in on four million. This compares with nearly seven million Nintendo Wiis and eleven million Xbox 360s.

James Rivington
James Rivington

James was part of the TechRadar editorial team for eight years up until 2015 and now works in a senior position for TR's parent company Future. An experienced Content Director with a demonstrated history of working in the media production industry. Skilled in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), E-commerce Optimization, Journalism, Digital Marketing, and Social Media. James can do it all.