Patch No. 2 not to be developed...no more Support?

[msxyz]

Originally Posted by CCIP

I'm curious though whether there is some sort of publication agreement stipulated about the number of patches. Notice for example that the previous two games had exactly 3 patches after release (+1 add-on). I know that some major publishers used to limit the number of patches that would be issued for the game before it was even published. Not sure if that is the case anymore..

Usually a certain amount of resources and (man hours work of the developers) are set aside for patches even before the game is published. Even the number of 'big' patches is decided before the game comes out.

Unless there's a serious game breaking bug, patches are usually delayed till there are a certain number of issues that need to be resolved to minimize the cost associated with testing and releasing it.