That’s fair. But people are busy/lazy/not interested. More downstream distros that require less customization or tweaking will always be there for those people.
As an example, why would I install Ubuntu and remove Snaps and go on a massive customization spree when Mint has already done half of the work for me? It makes it easier for me to just sit down and get started and that is what many users expect. Those that want to tinker or are more picky and want to have it just so can install whatever they want and customize as much as they want.
I also sometimes feel there are way too many unnecessary options, but they’re obviously not for me. The more choices, the better chances to find exactly what you’re looking for and that’s not a bad thing in my opinion.
If you want to tinker a lot, you can always use Arch. But if you’re like me and just want your computer to work, Mint is absolutely fantastic. And I’ve run all my steam games on it without any issues. Mind you, those games were all bought for the Steam Deck, so compatibility is already sorted.
