Despite having generally positive reviews, the few mature titles released for Wii have all faced lackluster sales. This; however, didn't discourage EA from developing and releasing Dead Space: Extraction for Nintendo's console.
"There has been some M-rated high-quality games released recently on Wii that we've taken note of, and that's why I think Dead Space: Extraction is a gamble," EA Games label president Frank Gibeau commented. "It's a calculated risk. Can a high-quality experience like that that appeals to a more mature audience work on the Wii platform?"
Madworld and House of the Dead: Overkill are two high quality mature games that have been released for Wii recently. Madworld sold 33,000 units in its opening month in the U.S., while House of the Dead: Overkill sold 45,000 copies in its opening month in the territory.
"We spent a lot of research, time, and understanding that the customer dynamics of who's actually playing on the Wii, do they own multiple platforms, are there really gamers on the Wii, or is it mainly families and youth?," Gibeau added.
"But we think we've found a market on the Wii that would be interested in the Dead Space: Extraction experiment. We're going to take a gamble and build that market. You know, until you try, you don't really know if the hypothesis is correct or not."
