You can still get that by just playing very small indie games. There’s tons of small games out there being made by just a handful or even one person that have these kinds of little fun things scattered throughout them. They are harder to find by their nature but that culture is still very much alive in the indie space.
For listening with one pair of headphones I agree, but if I want to share audio with multiple people this is definitely gonna be better than using the splitters and have the audio be quieter.