Industry Legend Rebecca Heineman Reveals Cancer Diagnosis, Launches GoFundMe Campaign

By Catherine Masters  |  October 7, 2025 | 1:00pm
Screenshots from YouTube
Games News Rebecca Heineman
Industry Legend Rebecca Heineman Reveals Cancer Diagnosis, Launches GoFundMe Campaign

A few weeks ago Rebecca Ann Heineman, known for her pioneering work on The Bard’s Tale trilogy, the 3DO port of Doom and keeping burgers in her desk drawer, was diagnosed with “aggressive” adenocarcinoma. To help pay for her out-of-network medical fees, she has set up a GoFundMe campaign.

Heineman started in the games industry after winning a Space Invaders championship in New York at the age of 14. According to a 2010 interview with Game Developer, she leveraged Electronic Games Magazine’s coverage of the event into writing some articles for them, before using her homemade Atari 2600 “dev kit” to consult for various companies looking to develop for it. In 2003, she came out as transgender, making her one of the first women to work in video games.

Recently she was given the 2025 Gayming Icon Award, and has been on LGBT rights organisation GLAAD’s board of directors in the past. With her partner and fellow industry legend Jennell Jaquays (Quake II, Dungeons & Dragons scenario writer), she founded Old Sküül games and developed Luxor Evolved. Until Jaquays’ passing last year, she was also working on the Sailor Ranko crossover webcomic with artist Erwin Prasetya and others.

While at PAX West this year, Heineman noticed that she was “out of breath from climbing a single flight of stairs” and once back home in Dallas, Texas, it was found that she had cancer lining her organs, prompting the fundraiser.

“To say I’m humbled is an understatement,” she wrote in a GoFundMe update on Monday. “With this money I can get scans from out of network facilities and cutting the time it takes to get treatments.” Currently, the GoFundMe campaign is 69% of the way to its $110,000 goal, with her chemotherapy set to start this Wednesday.

In an industry with such a high rate of burnout and talent drain, it’s vital that we take the time to recognize and celebrate people like “Burger Becky” while they’re still with us. With pay being so poor for most working in games, many highly influential professionals are now struggling in their senior years, relying on the goodwill of the gaming public in lieu of public healthcare or equitable wages. Endless Mode wishes Heineman and her family the best at this time.

 

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