Cliffy B: Heavy Rain perfect for girls

By Fred Dutton Published 4 November, 2010

Sony missed a marketing trick.

Gears of War lynchpin Cliff Bleszinski believes Sony undersold Heavy Rain by not marketing the game directly to women.

Speaking in an interview with BioShock creator Ken Levine posted on Irrational Games' website, Epic design director Cliffy B explained, "I hate to sound misogynistic but it feels like such a great game for a girl who wouldn't normally play games.

"Because women love true crime! I don't know what it is. I've said it before – they love two things in life: queso dip and true crime.

"Y'know, you'd see Heavy Rain advertised in PlayStation Magazine and things like that. I'm like, dude, why isn't this in Entertainment Weekly? Why aren't you marketing this to the right crowd?

"There were scenes were I was almost literally dropping the controller it was paced so well. If you had that and shipped a disc with all those women's magazines you'd maybe have sold twice as much."

Bleszinski may well be right, but Quantic Dream's highly-regarded adventure sold pretty well just to the male half of the world's gaming population. Earlier this year creator David Cage announced it had moved 1.5 million units to date.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (47) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Davemanz #1 2 years ago

    Known douche reveals he is an expert on women.

  • comedian #2 2 years ago

    "I hate to sound misogynistic"

    Of course you do.
    Edited by comedian at 04/11/10 @ 18:53

  • NimbusTLD #3 2 years ago

    Cheeky fuck ;)

  • Duchessprozac #4 2 years ago

    "I hate to sound [insert whateverism here} but..."

    The sentence spoken by all close-minded idiots.


    Edited by Duchessprozac at 04/11/10 @ 18:55

  • Kode #5 2 years ago

    I like Cliffy B. He doesn't have the personaility of a PR guy.

  • NimbusTLD #6 2 years ago

    He is half right though. My sister loved watching me play, asked me to only play it when she came over and always wanted to know what happened next! But that's it, she only wanted to watch me. I tried to get her to play, but she just couldn't be bothered to be in control after Shaun dies.

  • butler` #7 2 years ago

    As always, he knows how to make headlines, but he's no less right.

    We played it as a group of 8/9 people including complete non-gamer girls that were getting into it as much as any of the lads.

  • randompanda #8 2 years ago

    Should have featured it on Oprah

  • bad09 #9 2 years ago

    He's right, I know my Mrs really liked it. She likes the CSI games to, I row with her about them because Ubi are banned from the house. Drop your PC DRM for the sake of my nuts Ubi :)

  • Kazzahdrane #10 2 years ago

    Misleading headline - he was suggesting that it would appeal to women who don't already play games more than lots of other hardcore titles. And he's probably right.

  • the_dudefather #11 2 years ago

    Press X to MARRRRIAAAAA

  • Razz #12 2 years ago

    "Gears of War lynchpin Cliff Bleszinski believes Sony undersold Heavy Rain but not marketing the game directly to women."

    I think this should say "by"

  • Duchessprozac #13 2 years ago

    Misleading headline - he was suggesting that it would appeal to women who don't already play games more than lots of other hardcore titles. And he's probably right.

    Actually he's saying it's because all women love true crime shit.

    Generalizations about women like that are what makes what he said totally sexist.

  • anomagnus #14 2 years ago

    He's also right.

    I know no male gamers that enjoyed it. I found it boring. Yet i loved gears. I'm sick of the bullshit that flies around the media now, that if you're a male, and you like male orientated media you're a barely shaved caveman. I play games to blow shit up, and i'm proud of it!

  • RedPanda #15 2 years ago

    Post deleted at 14:31:59 28-01-2012

  • Harmonica #16 2 years ago

    Women in 'might like good games' shocker.

    I don't mind Cliffy B but giving lip service to this level of commentry is not really progressive.

    edit: headline is shit as well.
    Edited by Harmonica at 04/11/10 @ 19:12

  • MORZTAN #17 2 years ago

    The lady of the house, also went crazy for it when I played it. I do think Cliff Richard is right.

  • Penguinzoot #18 2 years ago

    ^^ Cliff Richard, hehehe :)

    Anyway, Clify maybe onto something. Don't knkow about Heavy Rain, but Mrs Penguin loved watching me play Uncharted 2. Story mode anyway, not multiplayer ;)

  • jag10 #19 2 years ago

    top two games for girls:

    1. Final Fantasy 13
    2. Bayonetta
    Edited by jag10 at 04/11/10 @ 19:45

  • man.the.king #20 2 years ago

    @anomagnus

    "I know no male gamers that enjoyed it. I found it boring. Yet i loved gears."

    Oh I see why you didn't like it! Because it wasn't on your 360!

  • Gromit #21 2 years ago

    Just **** off Cilffy B!

  • nafter #22 2 years ago

    Personally, I think Cliff mismarketed Gears of War 2 - if he'd advertised in this publication it would have sold twice as many.
    Edited by nafter at 04/11/10 @ 19:59

  • drumbaby #23 2 years ago

    If Cliffy B had marketed the Gears franchise to PS3 owners he'd probably have sold a few more copies.

  • Deckard1 #24 2 years ago

    Think it through Cliffy, who keeps their PS3 in the kitchen?

  • kupocake #25 2 years ago

    The keystone here is whether the female characters in the game are actually any good. Have to admit, I haven't played the game or seen much of it - and perhaps it's a consequence of the very marketing CliffyB mentions - but I got the impression that the world was still very 'male'. Even if 'true crime' may be popular with women, but that doesn't stop something like The Godfather being an absolute turn-off for every double x-chromosoned person without a film degree.

  • weejok #26 2 years ago

    Cliffy B goind mad on Twitter because Eurogamer like to just make stuff up!!! Not the first time they have misquoted people is it??

    "When bad pullquote summaries attack. If you see the Heavy Rain quote please read the full quote. Fred, next time I see you it's on! :)"

    "This type of journalism is going to force devs to never be able to comment on peers products and force devs into talking PR fact sheets."

    "Anybody who actually listens to me knows I love Heavy Rain and I think David Cage is the fucking MAN."
    Edited by weejok at 04/11/10 @ 20:28

  • beatwolf #27 2 years ago

    ah stop the cliff b hating, i think he comes of as quite down to earth and nice compared to a lot of the other industry arses out there. Love how eurogamer keeps calling him Cliffy still.. haha

  • Lunatic4ever #28 2 years ago

    Its true. I actually know a girl that never plays any games BUT LOVES HEAVY RAIN.

  • funkateer #29 2 years ago

    He might be right. Besides being a bit of a Bejewelled 2 addict, my wife really only likes:
    1) Heavy Rain
    2) Uncharted 2 (until she found it became a bit too difficult)

  • half #30 2 years ago

    Strange... I absolutely love heavy Rain. But then again I'm a girl that happens to be on top of things in the gaming world and own all 3 consoles. It brought something totally new to the gaming norm and unlike any other game I've played. It was boring at first and took a while for me to get into but it was worth it. I'm still a bit upset about the ending I got. However, as a girl I never once saw it advertised in any aimed at women. So I'd have to agree with cliff B.

  • Steizgr8 #31 2 years ago

    My girlfriend LOVED this game. The first game she's ever sat down and played through with me.

  • Soton4084 #32 2 years ago

    He has a point. My ex was totally disinterested in games, but was hooked by Heavy Rain and completed it.

  • Skurmedel #33 2 years ago

    I think he got misquoted because Fred Dutton got stuck on that fish level in Gears of War 2. I understand him, up until that fish, everything was sunny.

    And if Cliffy reads this: please announce a new Unreal :)
    Edited by Skurmedel at 05/11/10 @ 01:06

  • BarneyEX #34 2 years ago

    "Gears of War 2 is not coming to the pc, everrr"
    Look who's talking

  • nasanu #35 2 years ago

    I think this guy is a complete idiot, but I have to concede that he is right on this one.

  • t8yman #36 2 years ago

    Cliffy B is on the dev team for "Ironing Hero" and the new "Cooking Mama - Frustrated Housewife Edition" the latter of which has plumber, milkman and postman mini games.

  • Riggers #37 2 years ago

    I have a soft spot for Cliffy, he quite often makes statements about how to make games appeal to women, but does so (or is misquoted) in a way that gets him a lot of grief. It's like he's a clumsy but well meaning labrador. Bless.

    EDIT: Also, I now feel compelled to google queso dip. He's hoping it's a foodstuff and not a bizarre sexual practice. Safe search off, TALLY HO!
    Edited by Riggers at 05/11/10 @ 08:54

  • Ryze #38 2 years ago

    @bad09

    Ha haaa - imagine you at home!

    "We're not buying ANY UBISOFT GAMES!!!! The DRM! The DRM!"

    Mrs: "Well, no sex for a week then!"

  • layleeloo #39 2 years ago

    But advertising in womens mags wouldn't do anything. Because women gamers happen to buy game mags as well so would have seen it anyway

  • layleeloo #40 2 years ago

    @deckard1. Haha class. Although that is crying out for some original ps3 gerorge foreman grill response ;)

  • dwalker109 #41 2 years ago

    You know, making a little quip about women liking cheese dip and true crime hardly puts Cliffy on a par with famous women haters of the world like Jack the Ripper and that dude from The Silence of The Lambs.

    Which seems to be how some people view this. Get a sense of humour. The world keeps turning.

  • welshben23 #42 2 years ago

    If Heavy Rain is for Girls and Gears is for gay Men. What does that make me? I really enjoyed both.

  • Zephro #43 2 years ago

    He phrased it like an idiot but he has a point on Sony failing to market the game outside of hardcore gamers.

    The generalisations about male and female gamers are idiotic though.

  • DoctorFraud #44 2 years ago

    Being heavily rained on is more enjoyable than playing heavy rain. Fact.

  • metalmike25 #45 2 years ago

    I kind of have to agree with him. It's the only game i've played where my girlfriend actually sat and watched. She even went as far as to say she might fancy playing it!! This is coming from a girl who thinks gaming peaked with tetris

  • metalmike25 #46 2 years ago

    @welshben23

    A lesbian?? I don't know how these things work by the way ;)

  • bad09 #47 2 years ago

    @Ryze

    You know what, you 'ain't far off there mate :)

    Still for now I'm winning...as long as 2nd hand copies of the games she wants are around :)
    Edited by bad09 at 05/11/10 @ 17:14