there is the steam machine but from my experience it is a matter of hardware drivers and support.

Steam Machine is GREAT. But it still has warts around controller support etc...

Also, a lot of AAA games do not work on steam machine because of aggressive anticheat and DRM, and those vendors don't provide Linux builds. No spyware, no game.

The software for the UI just isn't there for Windows machines. There have been attempts but it is always janky and you end up pulling out a keyboard anyway.

Devs are afraid of piracy so they like the walled garden. They don't want emulators running because then they have to compete with the 90s-2015 era which is the golden age of gaming, and their newer games don't stack up ( except in graphics ). Nintendo doesn't want to compete with Mario Kart Double Dash on the Switch 2.

Also: Modern PCs absolutely MOG the Switch 2 and Xbox. The games are all in the same engines and cross-platform anyway, so piracy ends up useful.

>Also, a lot of AAA games do not work on steam machine because of aggressive anticheat and DRM

That said, these games fall pretty much exclusively in the competitive shooter space. Which isn't the kind of thing you usually sit down at the couch with a controller to play. If you aren't in to competitive online games then proton has basically 100% compatibility.