From the developer's standpoint the strength of console games is that they can write to just ONE configuration. Their testing, compared to PC testing, its dirt simple. They don't have to look at the amazingly huge number of hardware and software configurations that exist in the PC world and test for them.
The "patchability" has a down side in that the developer has to figure out which OS, which patch of which OS. For a game like IL2 they also have to know which updates where done in which order and how that might have affected the overall set up.
This is a major driver in the PC vs. console discussion that is often overlooked or minimized. A developer who chooses to develop for PC is choosing to have a whole bunch of headaches they wouldn't otherwise encounter.
