Vlc is basically what it is because of ffmpeg and the likes, which are… Corporate supported :p
That said ffmpeg didnt start that way, but at one point it was and vlc quickly jumped into popularity because of it and it quickly supporting new formats ( like mkv back in 2003/2004 ).
Youre not wrong, but its more complex than that xD
Eh, i wouldnt say they are better. They explicitly pulled all unreal games off all stores ( steam, epic store, gog, … ), killed all servers and when asked acted like unreal never existed. They are pieces of shit for doing it and they had no real reason in doing so imo…