Popcap is offering ‘Big Money’ for free, downloadable for ST. Patricks day, a very nice gesture considering how they’ve recalled their games from Amazons $9.99 or less game download service a month ago because it was too cheap.

It’s quite funny how Paul Breslin, Operations Director at PopCap Games via IGN says:

“Times are tough at the moment but we at PopCap don’t believe that means people should have to compromise on FUN – in fact, people need it more than ever. So we decided to create a little extra fun this St Patrick’s Day by literally giving away one of PopCap’s puzzle games!”

That completely contradicts their actions towards Amazon. Casual games can be found for $9.99 or cheaper from a variety of retailers online and they sell ‘Big Money’ for £14.95 or $20.99, which is practically doubled the price of what Amazon offers.

It seems as if Popcap pretty much spun around a circle and still believes their $20 casual games are well valued. That may (and I’m really stressing that “may”) be true to casual gamers but if PopCap games really wanted to offer some fun during tough times, they’ll need to do a little better than giving a free game and charging $20 for the rest.

I’m sure they are getting a nice chunk of profit from those who are purchasing but for hardcore gamers, $20 is not worth it for a game like ‘Bejeweled’ or ‘Big Money’.

For those who are interested in grabbing the game, visit www.popcap.co.uk between March 13th, 2009 and March 24th, 2009. On a side note, Amazon also offers free trials on their $9.99 or less game download service for those that are interested.