I't think, it's not packaging. From RPM to DEB to Snap to flatpack there are lots of options. But support I get. KDE, Gnome or whatever choice of window manager, many different distributions etc., that sounds like support hell.

The problem isn't lack of options, it's too many. Also things like Snap and Flatpack don't work well if you're loading plugins in-process (e.g. VSTs).

Seems like a good guess. It would also explain why it doesn't support plugins.