It's still a thing for people that started using it when it was the latest Google chat product. It may be surprising but people just want stable chat experience not chasing whatever next product Google releases or kills next year.
(I did migrate my family and friends to self hosted XMPP server as Hangouts doesn't have E2EE)
(I did migrate my family and friends to self hosted XMPP server as Hangouts doesn't have E2EE)