A certain public American company I used to work for reached 20 million users. They stayed at 20 million users for years. Sometimes they gained some from the competition, sometimes they lost. The net average was 20 million with no real way to grow.
The problem was, every quarter they had to show growth or their stock price would tank. This was a profitable company with lots of cash in reserve. The only way to grow was to merge with a larger company and essentially disappear from existence, transferring customers to a new rebranded service, which is exactly the same service but more expensive.
That expected quarterly growth is the bane of any company. And is why Netflix will jump into video games when it has no business doing so.
The problem was, every quarter they had to show growth or their stock price would tank. This was a profitable company with lots of cash in reserve. The only way to grow was to merge with a larger company and essentially disappear from existence, transferring customers to a new rebranded service, which is exactly the same service but more expensive.
That expected quarterly growth is the bane of any company. And is why Netflix will jump into video games when it has no business doing so.