Development costs for the current generation of high-end consoles, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, range from $20m to $30m, and those for next generation consoles could average $60m, according to Ubisoft's chairman and chief executive, Yves Guillemot. Games often take two years or more to develop.
...but Anderson argues that the real decision is free versus “freemium.” It’s not about whether to charge but choosing carefully which specialised content people will pay for and developing additional premium services. Of course, many newspapers look to the Wall Street Journal‘s model. The Journal offers most of their popular content and many exclusives for free, but they keep their specialized, niche content behind a paywall for subscribers. Referring to his theories behind the long tail, he suggested that newspapers should give away the “head and charge for the tail”.
