PopCap’s apparently made over three hundred million dollars off  a game that’s as simple as  it looks – line up three jewels, repeat – and has had the game downloaded over 350 million times, a record that the company states puts it in the top ten sold games of all time.

The question, though, is whether or not they can continue to sell a copy of the flagship title every 4.3 seconds – most games these days are free. Bejeweled Blitz! popped up on Facebook a while ago, offering users free one minute challenge games, and with the average Popcap game running at seven bucks a pop, one wonders if they can stay afloat.

Right now, a friend’s across the table from me playing an iPhone game called “Tap Tap Revenge Three” – a free game, which she insists she’ll never purchase. I was recently addicted to a game called “Dungeons & Dragons: Tiny Adventures,” and regularly play the free flash games on the site “Casual Collective.” In my entire digital life, I believe I’ve only purchased games online twice, and never for much money.

Hulu’s free. Facebook’s free. Gmail’s free. What’s gonna happen to PopCap?

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