This would make sense, in a single player game at least, if:Andy Chalk said:"We've been doing online gameplay for 15 years now... and with Battle.net [http://www.amazon.com/World-Warcraft-Battle-Chest-Mac/dp/B000H96C9M/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1312484407&sr=8-2] and now with Diablo 3, it really is just the nature of how things are going, the nature of the industry. When you look at everything you get by having that persistent connection on the servers, you cannot ignore the power and the draw of that."
A) Internet was free
B) Internet was available anywhere, at anytime, for anyone.
C) Internet was 100% reliable all the time.
D) Having internet on all the time offered any actual benefits, or at the very least subtracted nothing from the base single-player part of the game, including the option to play without having to interact with other people.
Until these comes to fruition, there is always going to be backlash.
Seriously, was this guy only born yesterday?