Sony may stagger the global release of its next-generation PlayStation Portable game machine after the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last month led to production disruptions.

The new PlayStation Portable, dubbed “NGP”, may be introduced in a single region this year instead of starting sales in Asia, Europe and the US in time for the end-of-year holiday shopping season, said Jack Tretton, president of Sony Computer Entertainment of America, citing production problems related to the 11 March disaster.

“It may be the straw that says 'maybe we get to just one market by the end of the year,'” Tretton said in an interview last week. A delayed introduction may give game developers in certain regions more time to complete their software, he said.

A 2012 rollout some markets threatens to put Sony further behind Nintendo in the portable-games market, said Edward Woo, a video game analyst with Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles. Nintendo released its 3DS handheld player in the US, Japan and Europe in the past couple of months.

“It raises the bar on the competitive issues that Sony is going to have to hurdle,” said Woo. “As it is now, it's already going to be almost eight months behind Nintendo, and a delay could push that to a year.”Tretton declined to say which region Tokyo-based Sony may offer the device in first.