I think the lack of decent joysticks is down to everyone dropping flight sims, MS got rid of their teams and everyone else seemed to do the same. Companies thought there was no point producing a product when there isnt really a market for it.
Now you can say "Yes but DCS"
I have been a flight sim buff since my teens, flown most of the greats etc, I was unaware of the existence of DCS until July last year, when I stumbled upon some youtube vidoes by Deephack. I found them by accident whenI was searching for something to move onto when I got bored of Elite Dangerous, saw his Rogue System vids then saw some DCS Mig 21.
Before that I had never heard of it, its not widely advertised or known about unless you go looking for something like it.