Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He started at the company in 1990 and spent almost twenty years developing iconic titles such as Burnout and Need for Speed while 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 giant and launch an independent studio in the United Kingdom called Fuse Games. Three and a half years later the fledgling studio is poised to ship 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‑themed racing game, Racer Revenge, hit shelves in 2002 – a full 24 years ago. Since then, the racing genre has struggled to maintain a prominent place in the mainstream market.
Amazon recently scrapped a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for its upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis explaining that the project didn’t fit the current market landscape. Meanwhile, Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style racers, has shifted its focus to the Battlefield franchise.
Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced that a demand exists for a Star Wars racing experience. “We clearly see an audience for a Star Wars‑based racer,” he told GamesIndustry.biz.
“We’re not the only ones who think that, and the response we get from our videos and articles suggests we’re not alone.” He points out that genres tend to be cyclical. After a period dominated by shooters, other types of games inevitably regain popularity. “As more people play video games, even the tiniest niches can find a larger audience,” he added.
Webster believes players are hungry for “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 of classic arcade racing while also asking, “What can we do when we’re no longer bound by tyres and tarmac?” The answer, according to Webster, is tracks that climb the sides of active volcanoes, courses that feel like roller‑coasters, and a sense of freedom that traditional racers rarely provide.
Beyond the high‑octane thrills, Galactic Racer deliberately subverts long‑standing racing conventions. Most racing games have relied on a car‑collection model for the past two decades. “Let’s tear that apart and borrow ideas from other genres,” Webster explained. The game introduces meaningful consequences for player actions, especially crashes.
In many modern racers, a rewind mechanic nullifies 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 said.
This risk‑reward loop is inspired by roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire, which are built around infinite replayability. “Racing thrives on replayability, so combining it with roguelike principles feels like a match made in heaven,” Webster noted. The consequence system forces players to weigh each maneuver.
When a driver is on their final crash and the car’s systems are critical, the tension spikes, prompting a strategic decision: push the limits or play it safe. This design choice marks a bold departure from the hand‑holding that has become common in AAA titles, especially as the industry prepares for heavyweight releases like GTA 6. Galactic Racer is slated for launch on October 6, giving it a comfortable window before GTA 6’s November 19 release, yet still landing amid a busy autumn schedule that includes titles such as Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall.
Webster acknowledges the crowded calendar but reminds us that the industry has weathered even busier periods. “People used to call September ‘murderer’s row,’ and October was packed as well,” he recalled. He says Fuse Games approaches the market with a “healthy confidence tempered by a realistic view of how things might turn out.” The conversation then turned to the broader industry climate, particularly the wave of layoffs that has swept through many studios.
Webster, who has witnessed a similar contraction about fifteen years ago, observes that great teams make great games, and great games find audiences. He argues that today’s risk‑averse environment creates opportunities for studios willing to take calculated bets. “When you avoid risk, you limit opportunity,” he warned.
Launching an independent studio in 2023 has not been without challenges. Funding proved elusive, and many questioned the wisdom of starting a new studio in a tight market.
Webster reflected, “I spent 32 years at EA in a bubble; this was all new to me. But I fell back on principles I’d learned: build a great team, refine a clear creative vision, and stay disciplined while remaining adaptable.” He emphasizes that an engaged, motivated team is the engine behind any successful project. Fuse Games remains relatively small for a title with AAA ambitions, employing roughly 75 people.
This size is intentional. Rather than expanding and contracting staff as projects ebb and flow, the studio relies heavily on external development partners to fill gaps. “We’re not doing the grow‑shrink‑grow‑shrink cycle,” Webster explained. “Our model could become the standard for AAA development: a lean permanent core complemented by trusted external studios that share our values.” External collaboration at Fuse ranges from transactional outsourcing—where partners create assets on a contract basis—to deep co‑development, where outside studios join daily stand‑ups, Slack channels and even the code repository, effectively becoming extensions of the Fuse team.
The UK, with its mature game‑development ecosystem, proves especially fertile for such partnerships. “In the past, other companies helped you reluctantly, but now there’s a thriving community of studios eager to collaborate on diverse projects,” Webster said.
The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer showcases the viability of this approach. Fuse launched in January 2023, and in just three and a half years the studio assembled a team, built a game on Unreal Engine 5—a tool none of them had mastered at the start—and delivered a product that feels like an achievement achieved sustainably.
A notable aspect of Fuse’s roster is the blend of veteran Criterion talent with a wave of younger developers, some of whom have never worked in games before. “Our young talent is smarter and more effective in many ways than I was at that age,” Webster enthused. He believes nurturing fresh voices is more valuable than relying solely on seasoned veterans who may prefer to work independently without much interaction.
This philosophy has led Fuse to pivot its hiring strategy toward promising newcomers. Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalize an internship program to further cultivate young talent, though he admits the studio is still pre‑revenue. He cites Criterion’s successful intern initiatives as an inspiration and acknowledges that developing talent carries costs that must be recognized up front.
Reflecting on the industry’s past excesses, Webster recalls a time when successful games generated enough cash for developers 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” as “fucking bullshit,” insisting that games are collaborative creations. As for Fuse’s next steps, Webster admits the future is still being written.
“The launch is just the beginning for us,” he says. “We’ll be talking to partners about new opportunities, and we have ideas for where we want to go, but as an independent studio we have to stay flexible and adaptable.”