I just stumbled across this post tonight as a new forum member. We have started having a similar issue with our system. It has been ongoing for several months now. This past Sunday, after having the same thing happen with our second NEW presenter to replace the original one that worked fine for nearly 10 years, I did more troubleshooting and found this scenario.
1-Opened the main ppt file and switched to presenter view,
2-Advanced slides as desired using the remote.
3-Activated an embedded hyperlink to switch to a second ppt file that advanced on a loop for roughly 7-10 minutes.
4-Escape key to return to the correct slide in the original ppt file.
5-Remote no longer worked.

This was the same thing that I had observed happening for several weeks.

I closed out of the 2 files and relaunched both of them this time.When it came time to switch to the announcement loop, I clicked out of the mail file into the announcement file. When it was time to switch back, I reversed those steps. The remote worked perfectly for the next hour+ until the service was over. I don't know if it has anything to do with the escaping out or ending the linked file or not. My next plan is to try ending a presentation and then going right back into it to see what happens.

I know that this forum is for the various versions of office, but several years ago, we upgraded our systems to Microsoft 365 and have applied any necessary upgrades. Has anyone else experienced anything like this.

We are currently running Windows 10.

Thank you.