Well first and primary from my own experience is the fact that most game controllers have a limited number of inputs and try to mask that behind duplicating buttons.

Take for example one of my primary controllers. It only has a set number of separate distinct "buttons"... So the extra shoulder buttons that I have can only remap from the existing buttons. I can move them around, but it's only going to be that set number of inputs. You can't even have an external program try to fake it because it's only sending those data points out of the controller, a set number which is less than the number of buttons.

So there's no way for me to have every button on the controller do something different and a modifier key to double the buttons.

This is something I bought a half dozen controllers trying to find a good alternative for, and all of them have some version of this issue.

Steam's controller? It is a fucking LEGEND for customization. I can have any key do anything I want it to do, and sing me a damn song while it does it.

That's one thing.

The button positioning as well is supreme. Several rear buttons instead of just the two silly triggers.

I like to weight profile and the balancing. It fits my hands very well and feels very ergonomic.

...

So no, I don't agree that the only thing that was relevant about the steam controller was the touchpads.