EA's licence for the LOTR games ran out and was not renewed.(don't ask me why). EA no longer has the legal right to sell the games. Only copies for sale are used, and they are pretty expensive.
This has happened with a number of games: the company that made the games lost the license;That is why many Star Trek games are not available.

Wasn't it because Warner wanted to do the games in-house, since they own the film rights? That's when we got stuff like Shadows of Mordor.

I loved Lord Of The Rings Online back in the day.

The only one I played was Return of the King. I thought it was okay, considering my low expectations for movie-tie games.

The third age, Ps2 playing with a buddy each playing a character turn by turn. Then the ps2 action games tied to the movies, and last shadow of mordor.

I liked Third Age on the PS2 and LOTR Online. Good amount of time delved on those games.