It is completely a control thing. I want to know that when I want to play my game, I am in control. No thunderstorm causing sporadic network access, no cable went out so I can't play. I'm on the road and out of a cell coverage area. Or the company whose server I connect to may have their own outage or maybe even going out of business or involved in some sort of legal dispute and service has to be shut down for some reason. I don't even want the console continuously spamming as to why I need be connected. I expect to stick the game in and just be able to play without logging on, authenticating or any such nonsense. Anyway, they have my money now and I have absolutely no control over it anymore, so why should I not expect the same from my game?
This decision and press by Sony definitely wins my favor. Even though MS is backpedaling, it goes to show what direction they will eventually go in.