X

Sony to unveil PlayStation Vita Slim for US, Europe this month?

In a cryptic invitation, the company says it's ready to announce the "slimmest" launch in its history. A smaller PS4? Probably not. A wider release of its PS Vita Slim makes much more sense.

Nick_Statt2.jpg
Nick_Statt2.jpg
Nick Statt Former Staff Reporter / News
Nick Statt was a staff reporter for CNET News covering Microsoft, gaming, and technology you sometimes wear. He previously wrote for ReadWrite, was a news associate at the social-news app Flipboard, and his work has appeared in Popular Science and Newsweek. When not complaining about Bay Area bagel quality, he can be found spending a questionable amount of time contemplating his relationship with video games.
See full bio
Nick Statt
The PlayStation Vita PCH-2000, also known as the PS Vita Slim, has been on sale in Japan and parts of Asia since November. Sony has now hinted that it will be bringing it to the US and Europe soon, following an announcement later this year. John Chan/CNET

Sony is set to unveil something radically slim at the end of the month, according to an invitation received by IGN Friday.

Though a PlayStation 4 overhaul would certainly shake up the industry, it wouldn't exactly be a practical move for Sony, leading many to conclude that the announcement is likely regarding a wider release of the company's PlayStation Vita PCH-2000, the ultraslim model it rolled out to Japan and Asia last fall.

"Following the biggest launch in PlayStation history, join us for an introduction to the slimmest," the invite reads, setting the date at January 30. The PS Vita Slim is in fact the most compact handheld in Sony's lineup, measuring 20 percent thinner than the current Vita available for US and Europe, and weighing 15 percent less.

 
Sony

The device also contains a 5-inch LED screen, dropping the OLED display from the previous iteration, and comes with 1GB of internal storage that will now let people play games without their needing to buy a separate memory card.

Beyond those tweaks and the additional array of six colors available for Japan and Asia units at the moment, the PS Vita Slim doesn't bring too dramatic a change to the handheld. It's currently retailing for 18,980 yen, or $190, in Japan.

We've reached out to Sony for comment and will update this post when we hear back.