AUSTRALIA: Red Ant goes into administration

It has been confirmed that Australian video games distributor Red Ant has been placed into administration, impacting the supply chain of a number of leading publishers in the territory.

Companies using to Red Ant include Capcom, Konami, Bethesda and Midway – and with key releases such as Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV on the way shortly from the likes of Capcom, the collapse could spell bad news for the market which has recently enjoyed great success.

Red Ant was hedging on the Euro, which amounted to a huge currency loss when the Australian dollar lost value,” David Lombe of administrator Deloitte Touche told ARN. It is still trading, although resources are limited due to the number of creditors. The receivers are now working on selling the business as a going concern.”

As well as working with many of the industry’s big publishers Red Ant was also a key supplier for major chains such as EB Games, Harvey Norman and Dick Smith.