A distribution is a collection of software - if reduced to a certain point, the identity is lost!

It makes sense to me for a distribution to find commonly wanted software, package it up, and make it available.

There's tailoring to consider! Some go further and introduce patches. Not every distribution is as good at both contributing and being accepted upstream.

Now, if you want something newer, then you're obviously welcome to acquire that as you see fit.

The distribution will help with that, too -- providing build utils, headers, etc. Enabling third party repositories, ie: PPA/COPR

There are also runtimes to avoid building; Flatpak/Snap, Docker/Podman, etc. Though, these also lose some of the 'distribution spirit'