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 legendary Burnout and Need for Speed franchises through Criterion, the studio EA acquired in 2004. Yet in early 2023 Webster, together with former Criterion colleagues Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires and Alan McDairmant, decided to strike out on their own and launch the independent UK studio Fuse Games. Three and a half years later the fledgling team is on the brink of releasing 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 sheen. Amazon recently walked away from a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for the upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis explaining that the market simply didn’t seem to fit the game. Meanwhile Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style racers, has pivoted its focus toward the Battlefield franchise. Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced there is still a hungry audience for a Star Wars racing experience.
"Clearly we think there’s an audience for a Star Wars racing game," he told GamesIndustry.biz. "We’re not the only ones who feel that way, 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 not the whole story. As more people play video games, even the tiniest niches can find a larger following." Webster believes players are craving "fun, interesting, compelling new experiences they haven’t seen before," and he sees Galactic Racer as delivering exactly that.
The team set out to capture the instant‑gratification feel of classic arcade racers while also asking, "What can we do when we’re no longer bound by tyres and tarmac?" The answer includes wildly imaginative tracks that climb the side of an active volcano or twist like a roller‑coaster, offering a sense of spectacle that traditional road‑based racers rarely provide. Beyond the visual flair, Galactic Racer aims to upend long‑standing conventions of the racing genre.
For two decades the core loop of most racers has revolved around collecting cars, tweaking performance, and unlocking new vehicles. Webster wants to tear that formula apart and borrow mechanics from other genres. One of the most striking innovations is the introduction of meaningful consequences for crashing. In many modern racers a rewind button erases 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 and your systems are critical, you feel the weight of that risk." The design philosophy draws heavily from roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire, games celebrated for infinite replayability. "Racing thrives on replayability, so marrying it with roguelike structures feels like a match made in heaven," Webster says.
Each run through Galactic Racer offers a fresh combination of track layouts, power‑ups and strategic choices, encouraging players to experiment and improve over time. Releasing the game on October 6 places it in a busy window, sandwiched between blockbuster titles like Control: Resonance (September 24) and Silent Hill: Townfall, and a month before the highly anticipated GTA 6 launch on November 19.
Yet Webster is unfazed by the crowded calendar. He recalls past years when September was dubbed “murderers’ row” and notes that October has historically been packed as well. "We have a healthy confidence tempered by a realistic view of how things may turn out," he says. "Good games find their audience." The interview also touches on the broader industry climate, especially the wave of layoffs that has swept through major publishers.
Webster, who has witnessed a similar contraction fifteen years ago, sees a pattern: great teams produce great games, and great games attract players. He argues that the current risk‑averse mindset among large studios creates openings for independent developers willing to take calculated bets. "If you’re not willing to risk, you limit opportunity," he observes. Funding, however, has not been a walk in the park for the newly formed studio.
"People told me I was brave to start an independent studio in 2023," Webster laughs. After three decades at EA, he had to relearn how to secure capital, build a team from scratch and operate under a lean budget. His guiding principles remained the same: assemble a passionate team, refine a clear creative vision, devise a disciplined plan (while accepting that plans are always provisional), and stay true to core values. Engaged talent, he believes, is the engine that drives exceptional games.
Fuse Games is deliberately keeping its core staff small—around 75 people—while leveraging external partners for additional capacity. Rather than the typical "grow‑shrink‑grow" cycle that plagues many studios, Fuse adopts a hybrid model: a permanent, tight‑knit core team complemented by trusted external studios that act as extensions of the in‑house group. These partners participate in daily stand‑ups, Slack channels and even share codebases, blurring the line between internal and outsourced work. Webster highlights the UK’s mature development ecosystem as a key advantage for co‑development.
In the past, studios were reluctant to collaborate, fearing competition. Today, many companies hire developers who enjoy rotating between projects, keeping the workforce fresh and motivated. This collaborative culture, he says, makes it feasible to produce a AAA‑scale experience on a sustainable budget. The rapid development timeline—just three and a half years from Fuse’s founding to a near‑complete AAA‑quality game built on Unreal Engine 5—demonstrates the effectiveness of this approach.
"We started Fuse in January 2023, and now we have a studio, a team, and a game on an engine none of us previously knew," Webster says proudly. "It feels like an achievement, and we did it in a healthy, sustainable way." Another noteworthy aspect is the infusion of young talent. While the studio benefits from veteran Criterion alumni, many of its developers are fresh faces, some even new to the industry. One producer, for instance, had never worked on a game before joining the project.
"The younger talent is often smarter and more effective than I was at that age," Webster admits. He believes nurturing junior staff not only boosts creativity but also creates a more dynamic work environment. In the future, he hopes to formalise an internship program, though he acknowledges the studio is still pre‑revenue and must balance ambition with financial reality.
Reflecting on an earlier era when the industry was flush with cash, Webster recalls how successful studios would hand out funding to teams led by so‑called “superstar” developers. He argues that this fixation on a single visionary is misguided.
"Games are made by collaborations of individuals," he asserts. "The myth of the lone creative genius is bullshit." Looking ahead, Fuse Games remains open‑minded about its next steps. The launch of Galactic Racer is just the beginning, and while the studio has ideas for future projects, Webster stresses the need for flexibility and adaptability in today’s independent development landscape.
"We’ll be talking to people about potential opportunities and we have a sense of where we want to go, but we have to stay agile," he concludes.