Ian explained their position on community interaction a few weeks ago, and without trying to defend EA, I completely understand. It did get too personal with the insults and questioning the intelligence of all the developers. In their shoes, I'd make the same move.
Think for a second how much work Ian was putting in: he'd drop by here on a Friday night--see the community up in arms about a specific issue--and spend a portion of his weekend trying to produce videos to appease us.
I know that the devs 'disappearing' isn't going to sit well with most of the community; but to me, it makes sense.