NPD: Dead Space Extraction sold 9,000 copies in September

by JC Fletcher { Oct 21st 2009 at 1:58PM }

EA's latest experiment with mature Wii games doesn't seem to be going so well. According to numbers given to Edge by the NPD, Dead Space Extraction only managed to sell around 9,000 copies in September -- although it should be noted that the game was out for only five days in the NPD's September sales period (September 29 - October 3).

EEDAR's Jesse Divnich, however, cites the sales as the result of a successful not telling anyone about the game experiment. "Electronic Arts didn't market Dead Space Extraction as much as it does with other titles," he told Edge. "And the success or failure of a Wii title usually correlates directly to marketing spend. If Electronic Arts spent little on marketing, I am sure the sell through was no surprise to them." It was, like everything, a complete shock to Dead Space Girl.

Tags: dead-space, dead-space-extraction, ea, npd

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)

The Dark Wayne [Planeteer: Power of the Batusi] @ Oct 21st 2009 2:01PM

Best header image ever

Temidien @ Oct 21st 2009 2:05PM

This.

MowDownJoe @ Oct 21st 2009 2:15PM

It's meme-tastic!

...Did I mention I hate memes?

...I still laughed at this, shamefully...

RKN @ Oct 21st 2009 2:26PM

The best or at least one of the top 5 on this website for sure!

rTwelve @ Oct 21st 2009 2:29PM

yo dawg, we heard you like memes

WINterfang ( Now with the power to piss you off ) @ Oct 21st 2009 2:37PM

This is a perfect moment guys, treasure this occasions with your hearts and souls.

Alasdair @ Oct 21st 2009 6:39PM

@rTwelve

...so we put a meme in your meme so you can meme while you meme.

Brysonial the Bison @ Oct 21st 2009 7:15PM

I'll just throw this litte tid bit in hear he he
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0vsB1uuj3E

PedoJokerBear [Planeteer | Power of Gall Bladder] @ Oct 21st 2009 2:01PM

damn you kakarot!

SonicRift @ Oct 21st 2009 2:02PM

And the game is awesome. It's one of the best looking games on the Wii.

sam @ Oct 21st 2009 5:39PM

I'm sure it is great. I read reviews and they said it was great, too. They also said it was great for *five hours*. Usually the review went on to say 'but you should buy it anyway'. Yeah, but, no. Reduce it to $20 (something that looks increasingly plausible if sales were this desperate) and maybe.

Unfortunately, the lesson EA and other companies take from this will be 'mature games don't sell on Wii'. It won't be 'maybe we should release games that have full player control instead of yet another rail shooter', or 'maybe we should release top-tier games on Wii instead of giving it an inferior cut-down version of a successful franchise that was released a year ago on other platforms', or even 'maybe we should spend more money on marketing', let alone 'maybe we should make a full-length game instead of half of one'.

That said, they may well be right :) Resident Evil aside, I don't see many 'mature' games selling well on Wii - but they should be able to sell significantly less awfully than this.

I really hope that the Silent Hill delay is a sign that it will be a quality release - and that, if so, it gets sales to match that...

bluetev @ Oct 22nd 2009 7:40AM

'maybe we should release games that have full player control instead of yet another rail shooter', or 'maybe we should release top-tier games on Wii instead of giving it an inferior cut-down version
How is it possible when the wii has a 729MHz processor compared to the Cell's 7*3.2GHz, 64+24MB of RAM vs 512MB and a last-gen graphics card? Have you tried running a modern PC game on a 2001 era PC? The problem is the awfully underpowered machine Nintendo brought out, not with the developers

cylet @ Oct 21st 2009 2:02PM

IT'S OVER 9,000!!!!!!!!!!! *breaks scouter*

Old Professor Zertoss @ Oct 21st 2009 2:02PM

Who do I have to thank for this shop? It's killing me.

Jeff @ Oct 21st 2009 2:02PM

DSG never gets old

DaRabidDuckie @ Oct 21st 2009 2:15PM

Dead Space girl makes my life feel complete.

bongoes Sector 2814 @ Oct 21st 2009 3:25PM

I'm writing a song about her.

GewurztraminerX @ Oct 21st 2009 3:57PM

I wonder what her reaction would be...

PedoJokerBear [Planeteer | Power of Gall Bladder] @ Oct 21st 2009 5:13PM

}:O

Einhanderkiller @ Oct 21st 2009 7:46PM

Non-blue comment.

Spartan [Planeteer | Power of Sunshine & Lollipops] @ Oct 21st 2009 2:03PM

It's EXACTLY 9000!!!!

samfish [is sad there is no Gene in Tats v Cap =( ] @ Oct 21st 2009 2:20PM

Well *I* bought my copy in October so now it's THOOUSAAAAAAAAAAAAND AND ONE!

sonicspike41 @ Oct 21st 2009 2:24PM

nine?

WINterfang ( Now with the power to piss you off ) @ Oct 21st 2009 2:44PM

9001? so that means.....

IS OVER 9000!!!!

protofunc @ Oct 21st 2009 3:28PM

Well i bought two copies then returned them back.. so that means..

It's UNDER 9,000!!!!!

Jack_Jackington @ Oct 21st 2009 2:03PM

I was hoping DSG was dead forever

THE WICKER MAN (BWF) (GT: Dalek Prime) @ Oct 21st 2009 2:17PM

Lead by example. :(

copa @ Oct 21st 2009 2:04PM

Dear God. I could have crapped in a tin, slapped a sticker on it that said Imagine Babiez: Extraction for Wii, and still sold 11,000 copies in North America before people caught on.

Jorrel56 @ Oct 21st 2009 2:04PM

Those NPD #s are VISCERAL

Shmil @ Oct 21st 2009 2:16PM

*breaks monitor with own skull*
...crap

ponceturtle @ Oct 27th 2009 1:40PM

Well i bough it and beat it and well..... I threw it away to a corner since is a dam rail shooter and became boring after the first play.

fischju @ Oct 21st 2009 2:06PM

But....Vampire Bill plays it! How could people not want this game?!

Space @ Oct 21st 2009 2:10PM

"SOOKIE!"

Solace @ Oct 21st 2009 2:51PM

SHE'S MINE!

Space @ Oct 21st 2009 2:07PM

haha, glorious! it's a shame that it only sold 9000 but hey Joystiq gets to post this ridiculous picture.

sonicspike41 @ Oct 21st 2009 2:18PM

Every cloud has a silver lining... or some such thing.

Mr. Fister @ Oct 21st 2009 2:08PM

Not surprising, considering how little EA spent on marketing for this game. You could have the best game in the world, but it won't sell if you don't tell anyone about it.

It sucks, though, because Extraction was a good game, and playing through it, you could tell Visceral Games actually put some effort into it. I honestly hope EA doesn't this game's poor sales to determine whether or not they continue making mature Wii games, since said poor sales were mostly their fault.

MowDownJoe @ Oct 21st 2009 2:17PM

Little money on marketing? I couldn't watch a video on Hulu without running into an ad for this game, complete with VISCERAL opening sound!

johnnynumber5 @ Oct 21st 2009 2:19PM

Really?

I swear I remember seeing TV commercials for this game and I know there was a lot of print advertisement in gaming magazines.

I think this was the commercial that I saw ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAYJp4douUY

I hate it when a 3rd party mature wii game fails to meet sales expectations that people always say it was because of bad marketing. I remember seeing commercials for Madworld, Conduit, House Of The Dead & Dead Space Extraction. These companies are advertising the games (at least in America) on TV and in print but for the most part they aren't selling that great. What point do we say this is an issue with the demographics of the install base and not a marketing issue? How many examples do we need?

GewurztraminerX @ Oct 21st 2009 2:26PM

@ MDJ: That's the first thing I thought of too; it was ALL OVER hulu. If repeated ads had any impact on my impulse to buy a game, all 9000 copies would be mine because I saw it all the frickin' time.

Ben @ Oct 21st 2009 2:57PM

I can honestly say I've never seen a single ad for it on TV or Hulu. Granted I watch Hulu maybe once a week at most if I miss a show, but I do watch TV a lot more than that and have never seen it.

Mr Khan @ Oct 21st 2009 3:07PM

Demographics are certainly a part of it, but we've seen certain Wii games buck that trend, and sell well despite catering to something other than the optimal Wii demographic.

Simply put, the demographic limitations are surmountable, if you play the other factors strongly enough. Why do certain Wii games in a given genre go on to sell forever, but then others collapse and are never heard from again? The answer there is more complex

Kodros @ Oct 21st 2009 3:20PM

"but I do watch TV a lot more than that and have never seen it."

I don't think the commercials run during Oprah and The View =)

johnnynumber5 @ Oct 21st 2009 3:27PM

@Mr. Khan

I agree 100%

Interestingly enough a game like Muramasa had literaly zero marketing and sold 4x as many copies. It is a complex issue and it's not as simple as saying 3rd party mature titles never sell or the game failed because it had no marketing. Each of those statements are probably accurate to a point but aren't definitive.

Vcize @ Oct 21st 2009 3:30PM

What Wii games in this genre sell forever?

AtomicPlayboy @ Oct 21st 2009 3:44PM

If buying this game would remove all the damned ads I have to watch on Hulu, I'd gladly cough up $50. Wouldn't that be nice: "You can opt out of all further advertisements for product X since you've already bought it." A man can dream.

R (Planeteers | Power of Penile Pulse) @ Oct 21st 2009 2:08PM

Obligatory video for the three of you that live in caves and don't get the header image.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBtpyeLxVkI

HeXeN @ Oct 21st 2009 2:08PM

So EA is actually celebrating 9,000 in sales?!

johnnynumber5 @ Oct 21st 2009 2:10PM

Ouch ... it's been beaten to death but mature 3rd party Wii games simply don't sell well at all. This is especially bad but nothing compared to the paltry numbers Spyborgs allegedly sold ... less than 1,000 copies! Not sure if it's been confirmed yet but thats what I read and the same source (can't remember where I read it) nailed the Dead Space Extraction & Scribblenauts sales numbers on the dot.

These 3rd parties should save their mature games for the PS3 & 360. Not saying all 3rd party games fail miserably but the more mature games certainly don't seem to fare well at all. The sad part is this game is probably pretty awesome.

Cue someone saying the game will have long legs ...