FIDE has organized its own Chess 960 championships in the past, and organising championships is how FIDE makes money. It's direct competition.

(Freestyle chess, Chess 960 and Fischer Random are names for the same game)

Given that the starting layout of the pieces and the movement rules of the pieces are the first things memorized by new chess players, that feels more than slightly different, even to this chess novice

you could compare it to say, Football, either football, and see that its almost the exact same game.

is there a game thats closer to fisher random than chess? checkers? pokemon the card game?

fisher random has the same pieces that move the same way, and at least half the pieces have same starting position as chess (the pawns)

if you compare to say, duck chess, only the opening of fisher random is different, and i imagine sometimes its the same? in duck chess, the openings, midgames, endgames and tactics are all different, whereas in fisher random, the midgames, endgames, and tactics are the same as in chess. fisher random is a superset of chess, and not by much.

engine chess is still considered chess, and similar to fisher random, the pieces and pawns start in different places than they do in chess

The similarity is even more patently obvious given the fact that the top freestyle chess players are, unsurprisingly, the top chess players.

That is because the only rules that are updated are the position of the pieces in the back row, and castling.

It's a bit like painting with oils or acrylics.

i think its more similar than oils va acrylics. more like painint with acrylics either on a bleached canvas or an unbleached canvas

Would a chess novice still recognize the difference in the midgame or endgame?

To me it seems like mostly the same game, just without the ability to study and memorize openings (the most tedious part of chess)