According to NPD data released on Monday, the Wii-exclusive Dead Space Extraction sold just nine thousand copies between its launch in September and the end of NPD’s monthly reporting period on October 3. Granted, the game was released on September 29th so that number only accounts for five days worth of sales, but still, as far as even day one sales for well known franchises are concerned, that’s just downright horrible.

But who’s to blame? The game has been received as one of the best lightgun shooters out there by the critics and has a Metacritic average of 83, so it’s not like it’s viewed by the masses as a bad game. One could say this again proves that the vast majority of Wii owners just don’t care for such mature games, but EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich thinks the culprit is in EA’s lack of marketing for the title, and that it may have been intentional.

“Electronic Arts didn’t market Dead Space Extraction as much as it does with other titles,” Divnich told Edge. “And the success or failure of a Wii title usually correlates directly to marketing spend.”

Divnich doesn’t believe the sell through comes a disappointment to EA and even implies the sales of games such as Sega’s MadWorld may have influenced EA’s decision to support the game with all their marketing might.

“Most games have a 12 to 24 month development schedule and over a year ago the industry was under the assumption that mature-rated games could succeed on the Wii. Unfortunately, as we progressed and witnessed the sales results from games such as MadWorld, it became pretty clear the market size for games with mature-content was extremely small, much smaller than any other home platform.”

“The truth is most core gamers who gravitate towards mature content likely own more than just a Wii.”