Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He started at EA in 1990 and spent almost twenty years contributing to the Burnout and Need for Speed franchises while they were under the Criterion banner, a studio EA acquired in 2004. In early 2023, however, Webster teamed up with former Criterion colleagues Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires, and Alan McDairmant to launch an independent UK studio called Fuse Games. Just over three years later the fledgling company is poised to ship its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, which will be published by the newly autonomous label Secret Mode.
Galactic Racer arrives roughly 24 years after the last Star Wars‑themed racing game, 2002’s Racer Revenge, and it does so at a moment when the racing genre has generally lost some of its mainstream steam. Amazon recently walked away from a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for the upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis noting that the market didn’t appear to have a clear fit for the project.
Meanwhile Criterion itself has shifted focus away from pure racing and now works on the Battlefield franchise. Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced there is still a viable audience for a Star Wars racing experience.
“We clearly believe there’s a market for a Star Wars‑based racer,” he told GamesIndustry.biz. “We’re not the only ones thinking that, and the response we get from people watching our videos and reading our articles suggests we’re not alone.” He adds that genres tend to be cyclical.
“We went through a period where shooters dominated, but that’s just one phase. As more people play video games, even the tiniest niche can grow into a sizable audience.” According to Webster, gamers today crave “fun, interesting, compelling new experiences they haven’t seen before,” and he feels Galactic Racer delivers exactly that. The team set out to capture the instant‑gratification feel of an arcade racer while also asking, “What could we do if we weren’t limited by tyres and tarmac?” The answer includes tracks that climb the side of an active volcano and courses that feel more like roller‑coasters than traditional circuits. Beyond the high‑octane thrills, Galactic Racer aims to upend long‑standing racing conventions.
Most racing games have relied on a car‑collection model for the past two decades. Webster wants to tear that formula apart and borrow mechanics from other genres. One such borrowing is the emphasis on meaningful consequences.
In many modern racers, a “rewind” button erases the impact of mistakes, but Fuse wants crashes to matter. “If you crash too often, you’re sent back to the start, but you keep some meta‑progression that puts you in a stronger position,” he explains. “When you’re on your last allowed crash, you feel the tension and have to weigh the risk of pushing harder.” The design philosophy also draws inspiration from roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal, and Slay the Spire—games built around infinite replayability.
“Racing thrives on replayability, so combining it with roguelike loops feels like a match made in heaven,” Webster says. This approach encourages players to experiment, learn from each run, and gradually improve, rather than simply grinding for new vehicles. Webster acknowledges that launching a new IP in a crowded calendar is daring, especially with heavyweight releases like GTA 6 slated for November 19. Galactic Racer is set for an October 6 launch, which lands after big September titles such as Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall (both released September 24).
He notes that the industry has long dealt with packed pre‑holiday windows; “people used to call October ‘murderers’ row’ because it was so busy,” he recalls. Fuse Games, however, approaches the market with a “healthy confidence” tempered by realistic expectations.
“Good games find a way,” he says, echoing a mantra that has guided him through industry cycles of layoffs and booms. Speaking about the current climate of layoffs, Webster reflects on his own long tenure and the previous wave of cuts fifteen years ago. He believes that risk‑averse attitudes are creating openings for studios willing to take calculated bets. “Great teams make great games, and great games find an audience,” he asserts.
Yet he admits that securing funding for an independent studio in 2023 was challenging. “People thought it was brave to start an indie studio now,” he says, noting that after 32 years at EA, he had to relearn how to build a company from the ground up.
Fuse Games operates with a relatively lean core—about 75 staff members—by design. Rather than expanding and contracting the team in response to project phases, the studio leans on external partners to fill skill gaps. This hybrid model blends traditional outsourcing (transactional asset creation) with co‑development, where external studios become an extension of Fuse’s own daily workflow, attending stand‑ups, joining Slack channels, and contributing directly to the codebase. Webster highlights the UK’s mature development ecosystem as a key factor, noting that today many studios are eager to collaborate rather than protect their own silos.
The result, he believes, is a sustainable way to produce a AAA‑scale game without the ballooning budgets that have plagued many recent projects. “We started Fuse in January 2023.
Three and a half years later we have a studio, a team, and a UE5‑powered game we didn’t even know how to use at the start,” he says proudly. “We did it in a healthy, sustainable way.” A notable aspect of Fuse’s strategy is its emphasis on young talent. Alongside the veteran Criterion alumni, the studio has recruited many developers early in their careers—one producer, for example, had never worked in games before joining the project.
Webster is impressed by their fresh perspectives, stating, “They’re smarter and more effective in many ways than I was at that age.” He argues that nurturing junior staff can be more rewarding than relying solely on seasoned developers who may prefer minimal interaction. The studio hopes to formalize an internship program in the future, though he reminds readers that Fuse is still pre‑revenue. Reflecting on the era when the industry was flush with cash, Webster recalls how successful teams were given funding to spin off their own studios, only to discover the reality was far tougher than expected.
He criticizes the lingering myth of the “single creative visionary,” calling it “bullshit.” In his view, games are always the product of collaborative effort, not the vision of a lone auteur. Looking ahead, Webster says Fuse Games is still shaping its post‑launch roadmap.
“The launch is just the beginning,” he notes, adding that the studio will remain flexible and open to new opportunities as an independent developer. The combination of a bold design philosophy, a balanced team structure, and a willingness to take measured risks positions Fuse Games to make a lasting impression with Star Wars: Galactic Racer and beyond.