EOS connection required for online?

Does anyone know why the game requires a connection to "api(.)epicgames(.)dev" to start playing online, despite not being on Epic or using their online services.
If I allow the game to connect to above it boots into online just fine, otherwise I'm put into offline mode and the game retries the connection on average every five seconds.

I understand this is probably a remnant from when the game was live service, but I do hope it gets fixed.

On another note, I enjoy the game so far playing Wingrave even if the game needs more new player help, tutorials and prompts