I don't believe we can compare SH4 to a game like Guild Wars. Yeah, they're both pieces of computer software. But past that, it becomes apples & oranges.
From what I've seen of it, Guild Wars comes across as a hack & slash MMORPG. Don't know if you've happened to notice it or not, but there seems to be quite a few of these lately. Probably because there are a lot of people who want to play them. Lots of people willing to pay money to play them (some, like WoW, even pay monthly, in addition to the purchase of the original software + expansions!).
Silent Hunter, on the other hand, fills a niche market. How many submarine simulations are out there? How many are "modern" (produced, released, and sold within the last couple years)?
It doesn't take much to see that there's a lot more money in putting a MMORPG out there, than there is in a sub sim. If you're running a company, looking at the bottom line, where are you more likely put your dev's to work?
As a result, I'm more than happy to send a pittance to Ubi & the dev's every now and then, in return for an increasingly polished product. At least I'm not up on WoW, pouring money out of my pockets each month, trying to powerlevel my character up to level 60.
If you're not happy with the above, and figure you shouldn't have to pay for patches, go check out
Danger From The Deep. Put your lack of money, excess time, and excess energy where your mouth is, and produce. DftD is open source... you've got the code and game data right in front of you. Make it what you want it to be.