I sit seneste nyhedsbrev skriver David Braben, at Elite: Dangerous ikke ville fungere uden netforbindelse. Det skyldes det faktum at alle kan deltage i galaksens begivenheder, hvilket giver en langt mere dynamisk oplevelse, skriver han.
"Galaxy, story, missions, have to match, and it does mean the single player has to connect to the server from time to time, but this has the added advantage that everyone can participate in the activities that can happen in the galaxy. A fully offline experience would be unacceptably limited and static compared to the dynamic, ever unfolding experience we are delivering."
Det har, ikke overraskende, ført til negative reaktioner fra nogle af spillets fans, der lufter deres kritik på spillets forum. Executive producer Michael Brookes forklarer, at alle de mekanikker, der driver spillets galakse, kører på online-servere.
"The data set and processes are huge and not something that would translate offline without considerable compromise to the vision."
Elite: Dangerous har været i beta det meste af året, og udkommer i sin færdige udgave om knapt en måned.