A large part of the 747 success was that for a long time, if you wanted the range, it was the only aircraft that could provide it. Even if it was too big, if you needed the range it was the only game in town.
That's no longer the case - today the 777, 787, and A350 can all provide similar range to the A380 and 747-8i while costing a whole lot less to operate. Add in 200+ minute ETOPS, and VLA only make sense if you can keep them full.