They would for the same reason they use Linux on their Chromebooks, Android phones, Pixel watches, Steam Decks or TrueNAS server. It's pre-installed. Why do you think that argument is an "excuse" is my question.
Nefyedardu
If anybody is so clueless about Linux that they need to take a quiz like this, they should probably just use something easy like Mint or Ubuntu.
Ubuntu LTS is generally used for servers, but if you are going to game on it you should consider using a container such as flatpak. It will share a kernel with your host OS (so if you need a newer kernel you are out of luck) but will be packaged with a newer version of Mesa. Installing drivers outside of the official repos can be a PITA because you often have to re-do everything when you upgrade your OS.
edit: should mention flatpak won't make your OS work itself. You'll need a newer distro for that. Ubuntu only gets major software updates for six months until the next release, everything after is minor adjustments like security updates and bug fixes.
Flatpak doesn't run the latest stuff typically. Like I'm on Mesa 23.1.4 on Flatpak and 23.1.6 on Fedora. Probably newer than what Ubuntu has though.
What would it take for Linux to run all the hardware and software it needs? Companies need to make develop for Linux. In order for that to happen, Linux needs market share to make it profitable for them. But in order for Linux to gain market share, it needs to run all the hardware and software it needs. So in other words in order to get market share, Linux needs market share. How does it do that without being preinstalled on devices?
It all depends on your hardware. If you run standard hardware with an AMD card, all the drivers you need should (theoretically) be in the kernel and will magically just work. As soon as you start using running hardware with proprietary drivers then you have to put in a little effort. Might require you to install separate package(s) from a third-party repo or something, and that will require terminal. It's just three commands usually: add the repo -> update your package manager -> install the driver. Not hard but if you are used to the Windows way of doing things it can be intimidating.
Even still, some stuff just doesn't have Linux support at all or it's completely community-maintained. If every company just open sourced their drivers and did things the "Linux" way then there would be no issue but unfortunately Linux doesn't have the market share for those companies to care. So you get into the negative feedback loop of: Linux has low market share because of lack of support, and companies don't support Linux because of low market share.
Linus' brand of assholery extends to cussing out some of his colleagues via email when they did something stupid, sometimes. It's not even remotely comparable to Steve Jobs (horrible treatment of his daughter) and Bill Gates (EEE strategy, monopolistic practices).
Ask enterprise companies and hospitals how secure and reasonable Linux seems for their business models.
...this is a joke right?
“Mobile.” Yeah this one is a joke.
You seem like you have zero idea what you are talking about...
That's not what Tim Sweeney was saying, he was saying they didn't need to improve EGS to woo customers because developers would leave Steam for Epic to get the smaller cut anyway. No gaming platform thinks catering publishers and developers should actually outweigh the needs of their customers, or if they did they certainly would never say it out loud lol.
Pro-publisher and pro-developer do not equal pro-consumer. In fact, Epic has never minced words that consumers are not their primary goal. "Developers will decide the game store wars, not consumers", remember? Tim Sweeney aaid that to justify not improving his store. I don't know about you, but in my view if Epic does not value my experience as a customer then I simply won't value them as a company. Is that not fair?
It's pro-publisher and pro-developer. What benefit does this give me as a consumer? I get to have fun watching Bobby Kotick and the other game studio execs buy a sixth yacht? Or are you trying to make an argument for trickle-down economics here?
And how does Linux get software? I was discussing that two comments ago, we've now come full circle.