Of late I've noticed the size of the Google Play Services binary has decreased in size slightly at least in variants 030 and 032. Its still pretty big but this is an improvement. Devices with smaller memories are still having difficulty using it but is not worsening. Google Play Services is needed to run GAPPS and a good many other apps. In the case of paid apps this can be used to enforce licensing (make sure the app isn't pirated.) Jota+ uses this technique to confirm purchase of the key.
March 18 2017