Did we REALLY need tapes that small?

MicroMV, MiniDV and 8mm/Digital 8 videocassettes

I get a lot of various consumer tape formats to dub off for people,
and I get a lot of MiniDV type tapes and even MORE 8mm/Digital 8 tapes
from camcorders....

...but in 2001 or so, after it was small enough with MiniDV  (the tape cassette pictured in the middle above) Sony had to get smaller with MicroMV cassettes.  For techies, they record 12 Mbits of MPEG SD video and MPEG compressed audio at 384 Kbits.  The format's data is a lot more similar to HDV than DV or anything else; HDV is a form of MPEG as is what is on MicroMV.  MiniDV is DV compressed data.

OK but other than all that tech stuff...did we really need a tape that small?  The camera that these worked with is very cute but in the end what was the point?  This format was pretty much done by 2007.  You can't buy new MicroMV tapes anymore.

So the lesson is: Not every obsolete videotape format is OLD like VHS!
...and did we REALLY need tapes that small???