You're right, no one had a problem with those movies. HobbitFan and all the other trekkies that were offended by them are figments of our collective imagination.
That is, as has been noted, a bit of an overstatement and strawman.
But, to be clear - for purposes of this thread, and considering game publishing, for this divisiveness to be relevant to whether a game is made, the folks who didn't like the movies would largely also have to be the people who are apt to play a game based on the property. The lines of division must match for it to be a relevant point.
Do we have any evidence of that?
The teen through twenty-something summer blockbuster crowd was very interested in the new Trek movies. It is not interested in TRPGs to anywhere near the same extent.
I think that's just incorrect. I think the gaming world *swarms* with folks who appreciate summer blockbusters.
We got a whole bunch of new fans, but not the kind of fan that adds demand for a TRPG. That is my point.
Ah, here's the thing. The *old* fans are not the kind of fans who "demand" TRPGs, either. Heck, name a single game out there that was created because fans "demanded" it. I can't think of a single fan-based movement to have a game produced, much less one that succeeded.
It is not the case that Trek fans, in general, are RPG players. The bulk of *any* market for one medium will *not* be RPG players. RPG players are a *small* market, compared with just about any major media seen in the world.