Last month, we told you that Australian publisher Red Ant were going into receivership, in the wake of the poor Australian dollar and the financial crisis that is affecting companies worldwide. We hunted around to find news for local gamers, and discovered that local Konami releases were being handballed back to former distributor Atari. At the time, we were reassured that various Capcom titles (including both Street Fighter IV and Resident Evil 5) were still on schedule - but we weren't able to find out just who would be taking over.

Today, however, we've just received confirmation that THQ Asia Pacific will be taking on the distribution, sales and marketing for all Capcom releases in this territory, "effective immediately".


Street Fighter IV, Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop, Resident Evil 5
Rodney Block, General Manager – THQ Australia/NZ comments:

“We are excited to be working with Capcom. Capcom is renowned for great gaming experiences and have such incredible franchises as Street Fighter and Resident Evil. THQ are looking forward to bringing these highly-anticipated Capcom titles to gaming audiences across Australia and New Zealand.”

To celebrate their new partnership, THQ and Capcom confirm that Street Fighter IV will launch on February 20th, with Resident Evil 5 following soon after on Friday, March 13th - both for Xbox 360 and PS3. Squeezing in the middle of all the fun is Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop, which is arriving on February 27th, and it's also been confirmed that THQ will be looking after both MotoGP on the Wii, and Neopets Puzzle Adventure, for Wii / DS / PC.

Following this week's news regarding a certain sequel, this is good news for all Australian gamers.