All those Final Fantasy PS5, PS4 Console-exclusive releases haven’t gone unnoticed in the US government, where Democratic Washington Senator Maria Cantwell bizarrely accused Sony of having a monopoly on “98% of the high-end gaming market” in Japan. .

Why Senator Cantwell is believed to be referring to Final Fantasy PS5 and PS4 exclusives

As seen by ResetEra users, Cantwell said during a Senate hearing on the 2023 trade policy agenda:

“I’ve been told that Sony controls a 98% monopoly of the high-end game market, but the Japanese government has allowed Sony to engage in blatant anti-competitive conduct through exclusive deals and payments to game publishers. games, building games They are among the most popular in Japan.

Yes, Final Fantasy is definitely one of them.

Cantwell made the comments to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, urging her to look into the matter. One problem: Sony doesn’t have a 98% monopoly in Japan. In fact, Sony doesn’t have a monopoly in Japan, where Nintendo and mobile are kings.

That 98% figure that Cantwell refers to is based on a bizarre US assessment of the Japanese gaming market, where it doesn’t take into account all other players except Microsoft. What Cantwell means is that the PS5 is stomping Xbox in Japan.

Interestingly, Microsoft has contributed over half a million dollars to Cantwell’s political campaign so far, and she hails from Redmond, WA, where Microsoft is headquartered.

Do what you want with it.

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