PCGAMER made an interview with David Braben and discussed with him several topics. For example what the studio learned during the beta phase. But the most important piece of information given was the rationality behind the decision not to provide offline mode.
David explained that the current state and the future of persistent world is simply not compatible with offline story mode. Because the universe will change according to the players activities and if you imagine planet or system where commanders help to a rebel faction then the faction become more powerful and will influence in a different way the area around. The whole universe will be one living organism reacting to players and AIs.
Maybe in the future the offline mode will be added but not now.
"We're still going to look at how to do [an offline mode]. You know, It's not off the table. We just can't promise it, and that's caused a lot of people to get very angry. I am always upset when people are [angry]—especially when they've backed us—but we had a vision and we're trying to stick as closely to that vision as possible, which is to do something new," said David.
