> Gaming needs no additional VRAM.

Really? What about textures? Any ML that the new wave of games might use? For instance, while current LLMs powering NPC interactions would be pretty horrible, what about in 2 years time? You could have arbitrary dialogue trees AND dynamically voiced NPCs or PCs. This is categorically impossible without more VRAM.

> the perfect excuse to create infrastructure for a global analogue of the Great Firewall

Yes, let's have more censorship and kill the dream of the Internet even deader than it already is.

> From the software engineering perspective, LLMs are a nuissance, a distraction. They harm everyone.

You should be aware that reasonable minds can differ in this issue. I won't defend companies forcing the use of LLMs (it would be like forcing use of vim or any other tech you dislike), but I disagree about being a nuisance, distraction, or a universal harm. It's all down to choices and fit for use case.