PlayStation Vita won’t be here by Christmas

TOKYO — Sony’s next-generation portable game machine, the PlayStation Vita, won’t be going on sale in the U.S. or Europe in time for the key Christmas shopping season.

Expectations had been high that the portable would be ready worldwide for the year-end holiday shopping season, a key sales time for game-console makers.

Sony Corp. Executive Vice President Kazuo Hirai said Thursday the machine will go on sale by the end of the year in Japan, and early next year in the U.S. and Europe.

Sony had promised a “phased global rollout” starting late this year.