Not A Rumour: Capcom’s Australian Distributor KO’d
Looks like the rumour we heard earlier today is now sadly confirmed. According to a listing on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission website, Red Ant Enterprises is now officially in the hands of receivers. ASIC lists Red Ant’s status as “UNDER EXTERNAL ADMINISTRATION and/or CONTROLLER APPOINTED”, which doesn’t sound too good at all. Quite what all this means for Capcom, Konami, Bethesda and Midway, whose titles are distributed through Red Ant, we really don’t know at this stage. We are still chasing Red Ant for comment.
[Thanks Matt K and attila]
Comments
Great. Another year of release delays.
This officaly sucks.
ebay is cheaper anyway
Shit, how the hell does this sort of thing even happen? Red Ant were massive, too. >_
“Administrator appointed” generally means that, although the business is in financial trouble, operation will continue as they search for a a bail-out (usually in the form of a purchase).
Given the high profile nature of Capcom’s release schedule, SFIV and RE4 are probably very high on Red Ant’s current priorities. Their presence “on the books” would be a very attractive proposition to investors.
Anyone who has been in business with Red Ant wouldn’t really be surprised, it’s been a long time coming imo.
FYI one of the biggest sub-distributors in Aus has changed all Red Ant titles to a TBA release date. While it may be as a result of the news for this particular company I would be surprised if the change was made for any reason other than direct contact with the guys and Red Ant.
Either way it is disappointing for the local industry in the short term. Long term? Let’s hope Atari Aus don’t pickup the distro rights…