SimCity Can Be Played Offline

In some more SimCity news, Maxis General Manager Lucy Bradshaw has responded to player concerns about how long the game's servers will last, and whether EA will close them in a few years like some pessimists expect. Whilst in other news, a modder has managed to get the game functioning almost perfectly whilst offline.
Bradshaw has indicated that the servers for SimCity will stay up for as long as people are playing. "As far as I am concerned, the servers will stay on as long as there are people playing." Of course, the word of one developer means little if only a few people are playing in say, seven, years time. At that point it will be up to EA's discretion if maintaining a large amount of servers for the game is profitable for them. There of course are stories of EA game such as FIFA 2011 having servers shutdown recently, but that practice may be more common for a yearly release franchise where players tend to migrate to the next iteration. With SimCity, that possibility is not present, although I still don't like the thought of the game's lifespan being tied to EA's say so.
In more SimCity news regarding the rumours and misinformation over the game's online requirement, a modder has managed to get the game working near perfectly offline. It seems that statements prior to the game's release saying that a connection to the server's was needed for game processes, may have been a lie. The modder has managed to get the game working in this offline state, and it turns out that no connection to the server is in fact required. The only thing the servers are tied to is save games, loading games and regional features - the latter of which makes sense as this is where the multiplayer happens.