The Outer Worlds and Fallout: New Vegas studio Obsidian Entertainment pays tribute to legendary RPG dev and Interplay co-founder Rebecca Heineman: "Her spirit will live on"

The games industry recently lost an icon in Rebecca Heineman, esteemed developer, co-founder of Interplay Productions, and one of the first esports champions. Obsidian Entertainment is among those paying tribute, thanking Heineman for her incredible contributions to the medium.

"From all of us who worked with Becky at Interplay Entertainment, and the rest of us who have deep respect for her contribution to our industry, we want to extend our condolences to Rebecca Heineman's family and friends," a post from the company on Twitter reads.

From all of us who worked with Becky at Interplay Entertainment, and the rest of us who have deep respect for her contribution to our industry, we want to extend our condolences to Rebecca Heineman's family and friends. Her spirit will live on in all who learned from her and…November 18, 2025

Prolific in many ways, Interplay proved especially influential when it came to classic RPGs, creating Fallout, Wasteland, and The Bard's Tale, among many others. Heineman was directly credited in the latter two, herself mostly working in the ports department otherwise, making versions of various games for other systems.

Obsidian would eventually give us Fallout: New Vegas, arguably the best modern entry in the franchise, and now develops The Outer Worlds, a role-playing series heavily indebted to the early Fallout games and Interplay. Heineman's contributions to game design still prominently echo and reverberate through the medium.

Beyond her hand in shaping video games, Heineman won a national Space Invaders tournament in the US in 1980, making her a competitive gaming legend to boot. She passed away at 62 after being diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, and will be missed.

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