That's a surprising statement. Got any reference?
https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey
And among everyone else it is not:
https://distrowatch.com/
Ubuntu for desktop stopped being popular the day they switched to Gnome3
It coincides with the rise of Manjaro (and Arch) wich comes preinstalled with XFCE, mint also showing strong presence
That's a surprising statement. Got any reference?