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Even table games before that served much the same purpose, similar with sports and some hobbies. It's much easier to talk about something or over something while engaging in an activity. They provide a default topic, a medium, a space and a diversion from unwelcome topics when needed; an agreed upon means of social interaction.
Autistic people... Silence during small talk.
We need this, that and that from there, over there and there... starts info dumping
Plus, for people that maybe are a bit awkward in social situations, tabletop games provide an easily digestible set of rules for interacting with other people. You say and do certain things at certain times, you take turns, it follows a predictable scenario, an understandable framework for interacting with other people.
Compare that with being at a party or something where you’ve got however many variables to account for: Socio-economic backgrounds, religion, politics, sexual preferences, relationship status, jobs/careers, topical news, music, movies, personal quirks and shared history, (to name a few). You can talk about anything and everything, but you have to keep people’s interest and not be too weird and/or offensive. You’ve got to be able to read emotions and pickup on social cues, multiplied out by however many people are there. There’s no written rules, but somehow we’re just supposed to know how to navigate.
Playing games with other people simplifies the experience down and makes the experience easy to handle.