Breast Cancer and the Creative Industry
Every October, the pink ribbons return, and for a few weeks, we all rally behind the message. Then November arrives, and men start growing moustaches for Movember, and we start talking about men’s health (which is equally important), but the noise about breast cancer drops off a cliff.
In an industry that’s supposed to be all about imagination and connection, we’re still not brilliant at dealing with the realities that hit closer to home. But breast cancer isn’t a distant headline. Around 56,500 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the UK, along with about 390 men.¹ It accounts for roughly 15% of all new cancer cases in the country.²
If you work in a studio of fifty people, odds are someone there has been directly affected — whether they’ve had it themselves, or someone close to them has.
I remember working with a mid-sized studio in Bristol. A lead artist went through treatment mid-production. Everyone wanted to help, but no one knew how. People sent flowers. Someone offered to take her tasks. But beyond that, there was a kind of hush, like we all agreed not to mention it unless she did. It came from love, but it also came from fear.
That’s the strange paradox of this industry. We make games where characters battle monsters and overcome impossible odds, but we struggle to talk about real-world battles that happen quietly in our own teams. The truth is, silence is expensive (emotionally and practically). By 2025, breast cancer is expected to cost the UK economy around £3.2 billion, potentially rising to over £4 billion by 2050.⁴ Those numbers include not just treatment but lost productivity, time off work, and the toll it takes on families and mental health.
Now imagine that on a studio scale — a key developer out for months, a producer juggling deadlines and hospital visits, a small team trying to hold a project together while pretending everything’s fine. The emotional toll that takes on not only the person going through the treatment but on their families, friends and colleagues is real.
And it’s not a distant issue for younger industries anymore. Women over 50 are now the fastest-growing segment of the UK workforce — accounting for almost one in three working women, and their numbers have more than doubled since the early 1990s.⁵ In the creative sector, that means more experienced team members, people whose talent and mentorship keep studios afloat. Yet this same group is also most at risk of developing breast cancer, with the vast majority of cases occurring in women over 50.¹
That overlap matters. As our industry matures, so does its workforce, and supporting people through health challenges like breast cancer isn’t just compassionate, it’s essential.
It’s rarely the grand gestures that help; it’s the small, human ones that really count. Sometimes it’s as simple as someone in leadership saying, “We’re here if you need to talk.” Or a producer shifting deadlines so someone can rest without guilt. It’s about treating health like a shared reality, not an awkward side-quest.
One of the quiet strengths of the UK creative scene is that we do care. When things go wrong, people rally. They make tea. They donate. They draw, write, code, or compose something really beautiful in response. That’s the heart we should lead with, not just in October, but all year round.
⁴ https://breastcancernow.org/about-us/blogs/the-cost-of-breast-cancer-2025-update