TOKYO: 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.

The $9.99 monthly option was announced by the company in June this year, a spokeswoman for Sony Computer Entertainment America told Reuters.

In addition to the monthly option, the company will continue to offer its online multiplayer games service at an annual membership fee of $49.99 or less than $5 a month, the spokeswoman said.

Sony plans to make PS4 more attractive by including more social networking functions, such as the ability to chat with fellow players, the Nikkei reported.

Microsoft Corp's Xbox One will also launch this month.

($1 = 98.54 Japanese yen) ($1 = 0.74 euros)