Why do people care about player count?

Genuine question here. Paralives is not really a "for-profit" game, in the way it is typically understood. They're an indie company making one game, where everyone gets paid the same money, they all have shares, etc. They've already said they have enough money to make Paralives content for years to come. So, even if player count were to drop forever to like, 1% of the original buyers, the game wouldn't ever "go down" or anything. For inZOI it's a more serious concern, because it's a AAA game with huge investment. But even if Paralives never even gets close to The Sims in terms of players, it kinda doesn't matter for a team of 15 people? Idk, I'm not super knowledgeable about these things, so maybe I'm missing something. But my understanding is that player count is not a super big deal for Paralives