SGG

Agreed. Get them a ChromeOS device, or get a good refurb business class laptop and put ChromeOS flex on it.

Yes it’s not what OP is probably wanting, but this gives them a device that is hard to mess up with a minimum of training.

Upside: not fired.

Downside: have to do work.

Upside: make money

Downside: not enough money

It does not whip the llamas ass.

Games need to live closer to the bleeding edge than a lot of other software.

Also, for wine/proton, and the other customisations built into the deck, it makes sense to pick a starting point that is more built for customisation. By that I mean there was probably less things they needed to add or remove at the start.

As mentioned, it’s also likely there was personal bias internally. But even that can be a valid reason as they need to be familiar/comfortable with the starting distro.

Not saying that Debian cannot do it, but doing it this way probably made valve’s employees lives easier.

1. It runs in browsers
2. If you hate your co-workers, then they will also feel your pain.