I'm not an online guy, but last year, there were problems up the wazoo. For a lot of folks, the gameplay issues, which weren't that bad, IMO, were made exponentially worse in people's minds, purely because of the online problems.
You look at this game, and a game like NBA 2K12, some people consider that game a complete and total failure, just because of the online issues.
As I said in the other post, I consider this an ancillary issue, but for many people now, it's a core part of their experience, essentially as important as any gameplay issues.