Here's what EA really means by 'straight answers'

I hate to disturb you when you’re playing SimCity, but I’d like to offer
some straight answers on the topic: Always-Connected and why SimCity is not
an offline experience.

We're super pretentious!

Always-Connected is a big change from SimCities of the past. It didn’t
come down as an order from corporate and it isn’t a clandestine strategy to
control players. It’s fundamental to the vision we had for this SimCity.
From the ground up, we designed this game with multiplayer in mind –
using new technology to realize a vision of players connected in regions to
create a SimCity that captured the dynamism of the world we live in; a
global, ever-changing, social world.

Which not many SimCity fans actually care about! Of course it didn't come down from corporate, it came from General Managers like you! That isn't corporate...no!

We put a ton of effort into making our simulation and graphics engines more
detailed than ever and to give players lively and responsive cities. We
also made innovative use of servers to move aspects of the simulation into
the cloud to support region play and social features. Here.s just a few:

Let me just insert arbitrary features we had 'envisioned' and reinforce the idea that this isn't DRM right here.

Cloud-based saves and easy access from any computer are another advantage
of our connected features. You can pop from work to home, play the game and
have your cities available to you anywhere.

Guess what, Lucy? Steam Cloud provides the exact same thing and not all of them involve DRM. -shock-

Almost all of our players play with connected cities. But some chose to
play alone . running the cities themselves. But whether they play solo or
multiplayer, they are drawn to the connected city experience. And
Always-Connected provides a platform for future social features that will
play out over regions and servers.

Let me be pretty clear about what SimCity was and always has been. The basement dweller's dream of creating the life and the feel that they were never able to partake in. Social? You're out of your brains...

The game we launched is only the beginning for us – it’s not final
and it never will be. In many ways, we built an MMO.

No. No you did not. You marketed it as a once off game to buy and play. MMO's have a very distinct feel about when they're released. They have alpha and beta releases, news releases all up until 'official' launch date. You had an official launch date. You failed. This is not an MMO. Please don't try to spin the wording.

So, could we have built a subset offline mode? Yes. But we rejected that
idea because it didn't fit with our vision. We did not focus on the
'single city in isolation' that we have delivered in past SimCities. We
recognize that there are fans - people who love the original SimCity - who
want that. But we.re also hearing from thousands of people who are playing
across regions, trading, communicating and loving the Always-Connected
functionality. The SimCity we delivered captures the magic of its
heritage but catches up with ever-improving technology.

Really? Where have you heard these reports from? Please, do tell.

So I'll finish with another HUGE thanks to everyone who stuck with us
through this launch. Hundreds of thousands are building and sharing cities
online now. And what you.re creating just blows us away. SimCity is a
special game, with a very special community of players, and we're proud to
be a part of it.

'Please be kindly understanding in our most insincere apologies as we give out some lame excuses and reiterate that this was all part of the plan.'

And as one commenter said on the article:

With all due respect, to write an article about why the new SimCity has to
be always online and not to mention DRM or the anti-piracy measure even
once, is dishonest and down right disrespectful.