Kubernetes was developed by Google, and it seems to me it's a classic example of a technology that can work well in a resource-rich (people, money) environment. But in an averge business it becomes a time/money sink quite quickly.

Way too many businesses cargo-cult themselves into thinking that they need FAANG-class infra, even though they haven't got the same scale or the same level of resourcing. Devs and ops people love it because they get to cosplay and also get the right words on their CV.

If you're not Google-scale then, as you say, a few VMs or physical boxes are all you need for most systems. But its not sexy, so the business needs people who don't mind that.