I don't think gamers necessarily expect an L3/R3 button. The Switch does not have anything like that, and Nintendo has always been top tier for gaming controllers.
I've been tinkering with some commits to get the Moonlight project working on tvOS, and the biggest stumbling block to many of the games I could play with a controller is the lack of L3/R3 buttons. Sprint, look behind, crouch, take cover, melee, etc. all get mapped to these buttons pretty frequently, since your thumb is generally resting on at least on of those sticks during normal play.
Nintendo has historically terrible controllers which started with the N64 controller. That didn't end until the pro controller for the Wii U/Switch.
Even the switch joycons, which I think are incredibly impressive with how much tech is crammed into them, are pretty awful to actually control with. The only reason I think they get a break is because they are designed for portability.
