Tim Shafer, the mind behind Psychonauts—and hopefully Psychonauts 2!—revealed in an interview with Hookshot Inc. that it costs $40,000 to patch a console game:
"Those systems as great as they are, they’re still closed. You have to jump through a lot of hoops, even for important stuff like patching and supporting your game. Those are things we really want to do, but we can’t do it on these systems. I mean, it costs $40,000 to put up a patch – we can’t afford that! Open systems like Steam, that allow us to set our own prices, that’s where it’s at...."
After this price was posted on the Trendy forums, Jeremy Stieglitz replied:
Hehe yep, though it "only" costs us $10,000 to patch a Downloadable Game, at least :P
This is in addition to the strict requirements for patches and DLC imposed by Microsoft and Sony. This has been discussed on the Trendy forums also.
So the next time you see some barely legible ALL-CAPS whining from a Console Kid who is used to getting candy when he cries in the checkout aisle, feel free to link this. Here's the code:
[http://dungeondefenders.wikia.com/wiki/User%20blog:Guyde/The%20cost%20of%20patching%20a%20console%20game Blame Microsoft and Sony]