I feel you on the hunt for a good D-pad. They're few and far between.
I'd guess it's a mix of corner cutting and trying to wedge way too much tech into something simple. The Switch Joy-cons are $80 for a pair and have serious problems with their control sticks drifting (acting like they're tilted in one direction when they're not being touched), but they also have shit like haptics, gyroscopes, NFC, and a depth camera built-in. Wanna guess how many games even use the depth camera? Just gimmicky stuff made for game journalists and redditors, like 1, 2, Switch and Labo.
It'd be pretty great if we could just get some solid buttons and sticks that'll do their job well and last a long time, but I guess it's more important that Carl the Cuck stomp around in his cardboard robot suit while Jamal's visiting with his wife.