Rebecca Heineman, the first U.S. national video game champion, a pioneering game developer and entrepreneur, a transgender woman, and a mother and grandmother, died from cancer Monday at the age of 62.
Heineman won the National Space Invaders Championship in 1980—the first time any video game had ever held a national championship. She went on to a storied career in the video game industry, working at giants like Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and Amazon but also founding or co-founding multiple companies of her own. “I’ve contributed code to over 200 video game titles for every video game platform,” she added at her website. Most recently, she was CEO of Olde Sküül, and was featured in the 2020 Netflix documentary series about the early video game industry, High Score.
Gayming magazine’s obituary described her as “a trailblazing figure in the video game industry and a celebrated icon within the LGBTQ+ gaming community,” noting that “Rebecca helped port and develop some of the most iconic games of the ’80s, ’90s and ’00s. Her fingerprints are on classics like The Bard’s Tale 3: Thief of Fate, Wasteland, and Wolfenstein 3D, amongst several other iconic titles.” This past July she was named the 2025 recipient of the magazine’s Gayming Icon Award.
She was also on the board of GLAAD, which explained on its website in 2022:
Rebecca’s direct involvement in media-related transgender activism has primarily been as a behind the scenes consultant for both GLAAD and HRC. She also served her local community as a volunteer facilitator at Seattle’s Ingersoll Center. Then in 2012 she joined a speakers group called PressXY.com, where professionals involved in the game industry discussed topics at the intersection of gaming (both video games and table top) and transgender issues.
For the 40th anniversary of her championship win, OutSports published an in-depth profile of her childhood and career, which I encourage you to read for further details of her life. (Content warning for childhood physical abuse.)
On her own website, she described herself as “a computer programmer, game designer, writer, engineer, pilot, nurse, pastry chef, markswoman, loving mother even though my kids have grown up and moved on.” She had five children, and shared this family memory in a 2010 interview with game development website Gamasutra:
I have kids, and they always loved it when mom cooked them stuff. I had this cake recipe I did called “Death by Chocolate,” and right now it’s a favorite for my son Jacob and my son William—every birthday, I have to bake them that cake. It’s called “Death by Chocolate” because you start with chocolate fudge cake mix, and as I pour it in a Bundt cake pan, and then I put M&Ms or little chocolate baking bits, then another layer of cake mix, until the pan is full.
Then I bake it, take it out, and ice it with chocolate icing and then put Hershey’s Kisses all over the cake or sprinkle it with M&Ms. So, essentially just one bite would make you gain five pounds. My sons can’t get enough of it, and I’m like, crap. There goes my diet.
She was also a grandmother, most recently to Emma Juliette:
Heineman was diagnosed with adenocarcinoma about two months ago, per her BlueSky feed, and had been posting updates on a GoFundMe page to help with expenses. Her last message there, posted November 16, urged, “Please donate so my kids can create a funeral worthy of my keyboard, Pixelbreaker! So I can make a worthy entrance for reuniting with my one true love, Jennell Jaquays. My daughter Cynthia Elizabeth heineman, will be making the arrangements.”
Jaquays, another award-winning game developer, died last year at age 67.
While Heineman’s death is a tragic loss, it is perhaps fitting that she passed during Transgender Awareness Week. Her visibility and actions made a huge impact on many, as the hundreds of comments on her final social media posts (posted by a friend) bear witness. I was particularly struck by this comment on Instagram by geekqueer (Luca De Santis):
I wonder if you ever knew how important you were to every little LGBTQ+ gamer. Thank you for your courage, thank you for your work. We will always be space invaders in this world, but you taught us how to win.