Exactly. Spot on.
And to me, that's kind of the point of the whole exercise---someone who wants to play a Star Trek RPG is probably looking for a "classic," Starfleet-centric experience. They're not looking for "Star Trek: Starfleet Black Ops Commandos," or "Star Trek: Scum and Villainy of the Gamma Quadrant."
The One Ring succeeds at what it does so well because the authors
clearly and unequivocally attempt to emulate the sensibility of Tolkien's fiction. Someone who doesn't enjoy the play experience of The One Ring may not like what they're getting from it, but it's not the fault of the rules leading them astray---they're getting exactly what the rules were designed to do.
The experience is paramount.
To be successful a Star Trek RPG needs to take the same approach. Rules and mechanics will need to be subsumed into the needs of deriving a "Trek experience" in play, and anyone who makes that game should be completely transparent about it.
Having given it some thought in this thread, I'd sum up the answer to the OP as follows:
Why isn't there an official, actively supported, licensed Star Trek RPG system in 2015?
- The licensing is nebulous, with some reports that the intellectual property owners are setting a somewhat high barrier to entry.
- To stand apart in the market, the system has to offer a clearly differentiated Trek sci-fi experience versus existing systems.
- Due to conceits of the fiction, creating that experience mechanically is more difficult than is immediately apparent on the surface.
- The "core" Trek experience is somewhat limited in its ability to address story narratives beyond the purview of Starfleet.
- The narrowness of scope limits the potential mass appeal of the system, even should one get made.
- The net result is that game companies don't see the license as profitable. If someone really thought they could make money doing it, I'm 110% certain they'd be doing it.