Mr. Motoi Okamoto, producer and director of Silent Hill: The Short Message, revealed in his interview with Famitsu the reason for offering the game for free.
The reason was attributed to the fact that offering it as a paid form would have made the developer aware that he was obligated to enlarge the size of the game and its content, something that the developer did not consider necessary for the experience. It also represented an easy opportunity for everyone who knew nothing about the series. After all, it is a series that has been dormant for many years, and even as players are excited about the title Silent Hill 2, there are those who do not know anything about the name of the game.