Sony to charge monthly fee for multiplayer games on PS4 - Nikkei

(Reuters) - Sony Corp plans to charge a monthly fee of $9.99 in the United States and 6.99 euros ($9.40) in Europe for playing multiplayer online games on its PlayStation 4 (PS4) console scheduled to debut this month, the Nikkei business daily reported without citing sources. Multiplayer games can be played for free on PlayStation 3. Sony plans to charge 500 yen ($5.00) a month for multiplayer games in Japan when the new console debuts in February, the Nikkei said. Sony plans to make PS4 more attractive by including more social networking functions, such as the ability to chat with fellow players, the business daily reported. Microsoft Corp's Xbox One will also launch this month. (Reporting By Sampad Patnaik; Editing by Ted Kerr)