You really think most users of x86_64 machines today aren't being shafted by Microsoft and various other software vendors just like users of smartphones?

Meanwhile, a certain percentage of smartphone users go out of their way to run things like LineageOS and GrapheneOS and thus aren't shafted (as much?) by the software vendors.

All that to say I'm not sure the two worlds are as different as you seem to think.

And, honestly, I'm ignoring the mention of gaming in your original post. I'm kindof ambivolent and unknowledgeable about that topic. All I know is that I'm very selective about what games I allow to run on my general-purpose computing devices. And on my consoles, I take measures to run games "in jail." I don't let my Nintendo Switch connect to the Wifi except on rare occasions and then only let them connect long enough to accomplish what I need.