Gwent was much more popular in Beta, I've already made several post showing charts on Twitch/GOG that show population numbers were 2-3 times higher in Beta. How is that having no future?
That chart doesn't take everything into account. In beta, number were already dropping. Furthermore, it's rare to see a game gaining more users past its initial momentum, unless it's a really popular game. This means that if Homecoming never had happened, the user base still wouldn't be as high as the peak, during beta. I would even dare to say the number might actually be lower than it is today.
Also, if beta really was a success, then why did CDPR decided to abandon it and try again with Homecoming? We cannot answer that question, but it does make you wonder. Whatever the case, beta was not successful enough. Still, there may have been more going on. Trying to release new expansions would have been difficult because all the cards had to have the same power level. With the provision system, it became possible to release a wider variety of cards and it become easier to tweak those cards.
Lastly, I want to mention that the further Gwent moved away from the original game in the Witcher, the better it actually got because it stripped away the imbalanced parts. Then, during Midwinter, the devs might have gone a bit too far. However, that also thought them a valuable lesson and it was probably the trigger (or an important one) for the upcoming switch to Homecoming.
People flocked to Gwent for it's consistency and lack of RNG.
Of all the things that set Gwent apart from its competitors, (the lack of) RNG was only one small part. I know that for some people it's important. However, I do not believe it was the main selling point. Regardless, you are pretty focused on that one aspect, while Homecoming also brought a lot of good things.