Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He started at the company in 1990 and spent nearly twenty years developing titles for Criterion, the studio behind Burnout and Need for Speed that 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 studio in the United Kingdom called Fuse Games. Three and a half years later the fledgling studio is on the brink of releasing its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, which will be published by the newly independent 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 slipped out of the mainstream spotlight. Amazon recently abandoned a publishing agreement with UK studio Maverick Games for its upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis remarking that the market simply didn’t have room for another racer. Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style racing, has shifted its focus to the Battlefield franchise.
Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced that a demand exists. “We clearly see an audience for a Star Wars racing game,” he told GamesIndustry.biz.
“Our community feedback suggests we’re not the only ones who think so.” He points out that gaming trends are cyclical. After a period dominated by shooters, other genres inevitably resurface. “As more people play video games, even the tiniest niches can find a larger audience,” Webster explained.
Players, he believes, are hungry for "fun, interesting, compelling new experiences they haven’t seen before," and he feels Galactic Racer delivers exactly that. Fuse’s design philosophy embraces the instant gratification of classic arcade racers while also asking, "What could we do if we weren’t limited by tyres and tarmac?" The answer, according to Webster, is tracks that climb the side of an active volcano, courses that feel like roller‑coasters, and other gravity‑defying set‑pieces that would be impossible in a realistic simulation.
Yet the game also aims to upend long‑standing racing conventions. Most racers have relied on a static car‑collection model for two decades; Galactic Racer instead borrows mechanics from roguelikes such as Hades, Returnal, and Slay the Spire. The result is a system built around meaningful consequences, where crashes matter. "In many racing games you can simply rewind and erase a mistake," Webster said.
"We wanted to bring consequence back so that each collision has weight and can affect your progress." If a player crashes too often, they are sent back to the start of a run, but they retain a layer of meta‑progression that makes the next attempt slightly stronger. This risk‑vs‑reward loop mirrors the tension found in roguelike titles, encouraging repeated playthroughs—a natural fit for a genre that thrives on replayability.
Webster acknowledges that this approach is a bold departure from the hand‑holding typical of many AAA releases, but he believes it will help the game stand out in a crowded market, especially in a year when heavyweight titles like GTA 6 are slated for release. Galactic Racer is scheduled for launch on October 6, comfortably spaced from GTA 6’s November 19 debut, yet close enough to benefit from the heightened consumer interest surrounding major releases. Webster notes that crowded release windows are nothing new. “People used to call September ‘murderer’s row,’ and October has always been packed,” he recalled.
He stresses that Fuse approaches the market with “a healthy sense of confidence” tempered by realism. “Good games find a way,” he said, echoing a mantra that has guided him through industry downturns and layoffs.
Speaking about the broader industry climate, Webster observes a pervasive aversion to risk. He argues that this conservatism creates openings for studios willing to gamble on unconventional ideas. However, he also admits that founding an independent studio in 2023 presented financing challenges. After 32 years at EA, he found himself “brave” to step into the unknown, relying on core principles: assemble a talented team, crystalise a creative vision, and iterate with discipline, even when the plan is imperfect.
Fuse operates with a relatively lean core—about 75 people—by design. Rather than expanding and contracting staff in the traditional AAA fashion, the studio leans on external partners for additional capacity. This hybrid model blends pure outsourcing (transactional asset creation) with deep co‑development, where external studios attend daily stand‑ups, share Slack channels, and contribute directly to the codebase.
Webster highlights the UK’s mature development ecosystem as a fertile ground for such collaborations, noting that today’s studios are eager to work across multiple projects, keeping talent fresh and motivated. The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer showcases the viability of this approach. Fuse was founded in January 2023; three and a half years later the team has built a studio, assembled a product, and mastered Unreal Engine 5—an engine none of them had previously used.
Webster calls this achievement “healthy and sustainable.” A notable aspect of Fuse’s workforce is its blend of veteran Criterion alumni and a wave of younger developers, some of whom have never worked in games before. “Our young talent is often smarter and more effective than I was at that age,” Webster said, emphasizing that nurturing fresh perspectives has proven more successful than relying solely on senior hires. He envisions an intern program in the future, though the studio remains pre‑revenue and must balance ambition with fiscal reality. Reflecting on the past era when studios received abundant funding, Webster critiques the industry’s fixation on the “single creative visionary” myth.
“That’s bullshit,” he asserted. Great games, he argues, result from collaborative effort, not the whims of a lone auteur. Funding, he believes, should be directed toward strong teams rather than individual star developers.
Looking ahead, Fuse Games remains flexible. While the launch of Galactic Racer marks a major milestone, the studio is already contemplating its next steps and potential partnerships.
In an environment where independent developers must adapt quickly, Webster’s experience—spanning decades, corporate giants, and now a lean indie studio—provides a roadmap for navigating risk, championing innovation, and proving that even the smallest niches can capture a sizable audience.