A marketing survey conducted by Beyen Market Research has determined that videogame retail advertising has shot up markedly over the past several months. Results from the second quarter of 2003 show that game software advertising shot up 77 percent, while hardware commercials experienced a healthy 55 percent growth rate over that period one year earlier.

In addition to these numbers, Beyen has determined that more expensive games are getting the royal treatment, while bargain-bin titles are getting left off the air. Two fifths of software ads were for games priced at $49.99 or higher, an increase of seven percent from the year before. Meanwhile, advertisements hawking games selling at $19.99 or lower dropped by a significant amount.

RPGs, of course, have been affected by this trend; powerhouses Sony, Square Enix, and Capcom have all launched ad campaigns for their more significant titles, hearkening back to the days of the infamous Final Fantasy VII commercial. According to the study, the reasons for the increase are lower hardware pricing and a growing software base in the market.