The $60 video game dates back to at least the 1990s. Rarely has a game exceeded that price threshold in the three decades since, even as inflation drove the dollar’s value to nearly half of what it was in the days of the Super Nintendo.

This week, video game publishers will press ahead with an industry-wide effort to raise the standard price to $70.

The move coincides with the debut of two new game consoles from Microsoft Corp. and Sony Corp., a generational change that comes every seven years or so. There’s one complicating factor: an economic crisis that had doubled unemployment in the U.S. from levels before the coronavirus pandemic.

Inside publishing houses, a price hike has been plotted by executives for years. They point to inflation, as well as the ballooning cost to develop triple-A games, as justification. At one point, Sony discussed going even higher before settling on $70.

Many of the game executives requested anonymity, apparently because they recognize the move is unpopular. In many cases, companies won’t acknowledge the fee increase, saying only that prices will vary by title.

The fact is unavoidable, though, when browsing inventory on digital store shelves. The new Call of Duty, Demon’s Souls, Godfall, NBA 2K21: Each one will cost $70.

In the 90s, Nintendo Co. rode the popularity of its game machines to set the price of some cartridges at $60.

It was Sony that helped drive costs down with the 1994 introduction of the PlayStation and its games printed on compact disc, which were less expensive to produce. That ushered in the era of the $50 game, which continued with Microsoft’s Xbox in 2001. They went back to $60 in the next console generation.