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 iconic Burnout and Need for Speed series while working at Criterion, the studio EA acquired in 2004. In early 2023, however, Webster, together with fellow Criterion alumni Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires, and Alan McDairmant, decided to leave the corporate behemoth and launch an independent UK studio called Fuse Games. Just over three years later, the fledgling studio is poised to release its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, under the banner of the newly independent publisher Secret Mode.
The timing of Galactic Racer’s arrival is noteworthy. The last Star Wars racing game, Racer Revenge, hit shelves in 2002, meaning more than two decades have passed without a new entry in the sub‑genre.
In that interval, racing games have generally slipped out of the mainstream spotlight. Amazon recently scrapped a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for the upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis stating that the market simply didn’t have room for another racer. Meanwhile, Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style racing, has shifted its focus to the Battlefield franchise.
Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced there is a viable market for a Star Wars‑themed racer. “We clearly see an audience for a Star Wars racing game,” he told GamesIndustry.biz. “Our community feedback—comments on videos, article reads—suggests we’re not the only ones who think so.” He points out that gaming genres tend to be cyclical.
After a period dominated by shooters, other styles inevitably resurface. “As more people play video games, even the tiniest niches can find a larger audience,” Webster added. Webster believes players are hungry for fresh, compelling experiences that feel new.
He argues that Galactic Racer offers exactly that: an arcade‑style thrill combined with imaginative, physics‑defying tracks. “We wanted to capture the instant gratification of classic arcade racing while also asking what’s possible when you’re not limited by real‑world tyres and tarmac,” he explained.
One example he cites is a course that spirals up the side of an active volcano, turning a race into a roller‑coaster‑like adventure. Beyond the spectacle, Fuse is deliberately subverting long‑standing racing conventions. Traditionally, racing games revolve around car collection—a formula that has persisted for roughly twenty years. Webster wants to “rip that up” and borrow mechanics from other genres.
Galactic Racer incorporates meaningful consequences for mistakes, a rarity in modern racers that often include rewind features to erase errors. In Webster’s design, crashing carries weight: too many crashes send you back to the start, though you retain some meta‑progression that makes subsequent attempts slightly stronger. This risk‑reward loop forces players to weigh each maneuver carefully, especially when they are on their final allowable crash.
The game’s structure also draws inspiration from roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal, and Slay the Spire—games built for infinite replayability. “Racing thrives on replayability,” Webster noted, “so marrying it with roguelike principles feels like a match made in heaven.” By embedding procedural elements and persistent progression, Galactic Racer aims to keep players returning for new runs, each with fresh challenges and strategic decisions. Launching the game on October 6 places it in a busy window, sandwiched between blockbuster releases like Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall (September 24) and the highly anticipated GTA 6 (November 19).
Yet Webster is undaunted by the crowded calendar. He recalls past years when September felt packed, but developers still spoke of “Murderer’s Row” in October, a time historically dense with releases. “We have a healthy confidence tempered by a realistic view of how things may turn out,” he said.
“Good games will find a way.” Webster’s optimism is grounded in his long‑term perspective on industry cycles, especially regarding layoffs and risk aversion. He remembers a wave of layoffs fifteen years ago and notes a current trend: companies are increasingly reluctant to take creative risks.
“That aversion creates opportunities for those willing to make calculated bets,” he argued. “If you shy away from risk, you limit yourself and the market loses potential breakthroughs.” Funding, however, has been a hurdle for Fuse. Starting an independent studio in 2023 was deemed “brave” by many observers. Webster admits the financing landscape was challenging, but he leaned on principles honed at EA: assembling a talented team, sharpening a clear creative vision, and maintaining disciplined planning—while accepting that plans are always imperfect and must be iterated upon.
He stresses that a motivated, engaged team is the engine of great games. Fuse’s staffing model reflects this philosophy. The core team consists of roughly 75 people—small by AAA standards—but the studio deliberately avoids the “grow‑shrink‑grow‑shrink” cycle that plagues many large developers.
Instead, Fuse supplements its internal talent with external partners, ranging from transactional outsourcing for asset creation to deep co‑development relationships where external studios attend daily stand‑ups, join Slack channels, and contribute directly to the codebase. Webster highlights the UK’s mature game development ecosystem as a fertile ground for such collaborations, noting that today’s studios are eager to work across multiple projects, keeping their staff fresh and motivated. According to Webster, this hybrid model demonstrates that a AAA‑scale game can be produced sustainably on a modest budget when a stable core is augmented by trusted external teams that share the same values. The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer—just three and a half years from Fuse’s founding to a near‑complete UE5‑powered title—serves as proof of concept.
“We started Fuse in January 2023, and now we have a studio, a team, and a finished game built on an engine none of us previously mastered,” he said. “It feels like an achievement, and we did it in a healthy, sustainable way.” Fuse’s roster blends veteran expertise with a surge of younger talent.
One of the producers on Galactic Racer had never worked in games before joining the project. Webster praises this influx of fresh perspectives: “Our young developers are often smarter and more effective than I was at their age.
We’ve had greater success with them than with some senior hires from elsewhere.” He observes that seasoned developers sometimes prefer to work alongside equally senior colleagues, which can limit mentorship opportunities. By contrast, nurturing younger staff energizes both parties and fosters a collaborative culture. Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalize an internship program to further cultivate emerging talent, though he acknowledges that Fuse is still pre‑revenue. He cites Criterion’s successful intern initiatives as a model and stresses that any such effort must be entered with “eyes wide open” regarding the costs of talent development.
Reflecting on an earlier era when the industry was flush with capital, Webster recalls how many developers who rode the wave of a hit title were encouraged to spin off their own studios—only to discover that building a company is far harder than it appears. He criticizes the industry’s lingering fascination with the myth of the singular creative visionary, calling it “bullshit.” In his view, games are always collaborative products, built by teams rather than lone geniuses.
As for Fuse’s future beyond Galactic Racer, Webster admits plans are still taking shape. The launch is just the beginning, and the studio remains open to exploring new opportunities and directions. “Independent developers need to stay flexible and adaptable,” he concluded, “and we’ll see where the next chapter leads us."