Not everyone’s a big kb/mouse fan. My sister refuses to use one on the HTPC.

Hence I think that was its non-insignificant niche; couch usage. Portable keyboards are really awkward and clunky on laps, and if its a trackpad anyway the steam controller is way better.

Personally I think it was a smart business decision, because of this:

It doesnt have 2 joysticks so I just buy an Xbox one instead.

No one’s going to buy a steam-branded Xbox controller, but making it different does. And I think what killed it is that it wasn’t plug-and-play enough, eg it didn’t work out of the box with many games.