'Lego Lord of the Rings' Games Delisted From Steam, 'Ghostbusters' Could Be Very Soon

While there have been a lot of great licensed games that have come out over the years, they're becoming much harder to find these days, mainly because the expiration of those licenses means those games can no longer be sold. And it appears a couple more casualties have joined the growing list, with a possible third one on the way.

Based on this report from GameWatcher, two of WB Games' most noteworthy Lego titles have vanished from the Steam storefront, and they're likely to be gone from Xbox Live and PlayStation Network as well, if they haven't been removed already.

Lego Lord of the Rings and Lego The Hobbit have disappeared from their respective store pages, as confirmed by a number of users on the service. As for the reason why, WB Games hasn't said a word.

Some LOTR fans are curious about their removal, as Warner Bros. still owns the movie and game rights to the franchise. But GameWatcher notes that it could have something to do with the music and voice acting, both of which Lego Lord of the Rings and Hobbit use quite a bit of from the films. As a result, the games may have been pulled, possibly permanently.

We've reached out to WB to see if they have any response on the matter. In the meantime, you may want to check around other storefronts like GOG and Fanatical to see if they have the Lego games available. If not, well, there's always Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War, which are still available.

Another title that could soon join these delisted ranks is Ghostbusters, the Activision-licensed top-down shooter based on the 2016 film reboot. The publisher hasn't confirmed the game's removal from Steam and other stores just yet, but it's currently at a rock bottom price of just $7.99, indicating that it could be going away very soon.

This isn't the first time that Activision-licensed games have gone up in smoke. Titles like Transformers: Devastation, Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, the Marvel: Ultimate Alliance games and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, among others, have all been removed due to expired licenses, and Ghostbusters could be the next one out the door.

To be fair, though, this game is pretty forgettable, with no real personality to match the newest movie. There is a better one from Atari that features the original stars of the 80's films, including Bill Murray; but it's been delisted for quite some time. Your best bet may be finding a physical copy.

If you're curious, you can still buy the latest Ghostbusters game for Steam here. Proceed with caution, though.