Let's not quibble over the price tag, and whether $10,000 is a
meaningful hurdle.

The debate was about key security, and the consensus in the crypto
community is that things like efuses can be read out with moderate
effort, while battery-backed up SRAM data is either much more secure or
even perfectly secure, i.e. has never been cracked.

Some people think batteries are a pain, others think they are just fine
and last >15 years.

It's security vs convenience. Xilinx picked security, Altera picked
convenience.
The choice is yours.
Peter Alfke, Xilinx Applications