My rant above and your response reminded me of all those tons of MMO games out there that are ancient, with a tiny playerbase, that remain profitable nonetheless simply because if you have a product that people like using, putting it into maintenance mode and doing the bare minimum to keep it running is a perfectly valid business strategy. The companies that buy these service games and run them effectively just buy completed money printers and keep them operating. It's not going to make anyone rich probably, but it's a perfectly valid and profitable way to go about things.

The silicon valley "grow at all costs, always evolve and innovate forever" model is so detached from the reality of most businesses in my experience.