SONY CORP PLANS TO INTRODUCE MONTHLY FEES OF 500 YEN TO 1,000 YEN FOR PLAYING CERTAIN GAMES ON ITS PLAYSTATION 4 CONSOLE - NIKKEI
DJ Sony to Charge Monthly Fees for Multiplayer PS4 Games -Nikkei
12:05 PM (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time (US & Canada) Nov 05, 2013
TOKYO (Nikkei)--Sony Corp. (6758.TO) plans to introduce monthly fees of Y500 to Y1,000 for playing certain games on its PlayStation 4 console, which debuts in the U.S. and Europe this month, The Nikkei reported in its Wednesday morning edition.
The company is shifting to a business model geared toward generating profits not only from sales of game hardware and software, but also through a steady stream of income from game services.
Sony will charge fees for games in which two or more online players compete with each other or cooperate to defeat enemies. Such multiplayer games will make up a majority of the slightly more than 30 titles to be launched midmonth in the U.S. and later in Europe.
The monthly charge will be $9.99, or almost Y1,000, in the U.S., and EUR6.99, or slightly more than Y900, in Europe. Sony intends to charge Y500 a month in Japan when the console is released here next February.
Given that multiplayer games are currently free to play on the PlayStation 3, Sony plans to make the PS4 versions more attractive by ramping up social networking functions, such as the ability to chat with fellow players. The firm is also setting the PS4's price at $399, $100 less than the PS3's initial price. Sony aims to quickly sign 20 million contracts for the paid services.
Microsoft Corp. already offers similar social networking capabilities on its Xbox console series.