nostr:npub1vwr5s27ye0f8a267awgl07zwkwshtqkg9ywnx8ltx2as39v5kcysu9fnzd the problem is that:

direct input is a microsoft windows only thing

xinput is a microsoft windows only thing

linux has whatever is in linux/joystick.h

macos has their "Game Controller framework"

all the consoles only implement the very specific input devices they use, though i would imagine new XBOX being windows has the capability to work with xinput (but probably doesn't)

steam input and SDL just wrap all of these individual things to make it look like it all just works, but they are all completely different and choosing just one means all vendors will need to either support 2 (3 in case of microsoft) APIs or deprecate all other ones and support just the new one. Hell, sony/microsoft/nintend don't even make gamepad drivers for linux themselves, I rather doubt they would want to change anything. Steam input is great, but it also isn't a system driver and requires steam to be running. The whole thing is a fucking mess.