Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He began his tenure in 1990 and spent almost twenty years contributing to the legendary Burnout and Need for Speed franchises while working at 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 founded Fuse Games, an independent studio based in the United Kingdom. Just over three years later the fledgling company is poised to launch its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, which will be published by the newly autonomous label Secret Mode. Galactic Racer arrives roughly twenty‑four 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 walked away from a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for its upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis commenting that the market simply didn’t have room for another racer.
Meanwhile Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style racing, has pivoted toward the Battlefield franchise, underscoring the broader industry trend away from pure racing experiences. Despite these signals, Webster is convinced there is still a viable audience for a Star Wars racing adventure. “We clearly think there’s a fanbase for a Star Wars racing game,” he told GamesIndustry.biz.
“We’re not the only ones who feel 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. “Shooters dominated for a while, but that’s not the only genre that can thrive. As more people play video games, even the tiniest niches can find a larger following.” Webster believes players are hungry for "fun, interesting, compelling new experiences that 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 could we do if we weren’t limited by tyres and tarmac?” The answer includes tracks that climb the sides of active volcanoes 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. For two decades, most racing games have been built around a car‑collection model, a formula Webster describes as “unchanged for probably 20 years.” He wants to rip that structure up and borrow mechanics from other genres. One of the most radical changes is the introduction of meaningful consequences for crashing.
In many modern racers, a rewind button erases any penalty, but Fuse wants crashes to matter. “If you crash too many times you’re sent back to the start, but you keep some meta‑progression with you,” Webster explains. “When you’re on your last allowed crash, you start to feel the risk and weigh your decisions carefully.” The game’s design is heavily inspired by roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire—games built around infinite replayability.
"Racing thrives on replayability," Webster notes, "so combining it with roguelike loops feels like a match made in heaven." This approach encourages players to experiment, learn from failures, and return stronger, echoing the iterative nature of classic arcade competition. Launching on October 6, Galactic Racer lands a month before the highly anticipated GTA 6 release (scheduled for November 19) and shortly after other major September launches like Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall. While some industry observers warned that September and October are crowded windows, Webster recalls earlier eras when October was considered “murderers’ row” for releases.
He acknowledges the competition but says Fuse Games approaches it with “a healthy sense of confidence tempered by a realistic view of how things may turn out.” Webster’s optimism is rooted in a longer perspective on industry cycles. He reflects on the wave of layoffs that has swept through the sector, noting that great teams produce great games, and great games find audiences. He argues that a current aversion to risk limits opportunities, but for studios willing to take calculated bets, the market opens up.
“If you’re not willing to risk, you miss the chance to create something truly different,” he says. Funding an independent studio in 2023 has not been easy. “People told me I was brave to start an indie studio now,” Webster recalls. After 32 years at EA, he found himself navigating a new reality: building a team, refining a creative vision, and maintaining discipline while accepting that plans are always provisional.
He emphasizes that a motivated, engaged team is the cornerstone of any successful project. Fuse Games operates with a relatively small core staff—about 75 people—by design. Rather than scaling the team up and down repeatedly, the studio relies on external partners to fill skill gaps.
This hybrid model blends transactional outsourcing (pure asset creation) with deep co‑development, where external studios join daily stand‑ups, Slack channels, and even the codebase, effectively becoming extensions of the core team. Webster highlights the UK’s mature development ecosystem as a fertile ground for such collaborations, noting that today’s studios are eager to work on varied projects, keeping talent fresh and motivated. According to Webster, this lean‑core‑plus‑partners approach can deliver AAA‑level scope, scale and visual fidelity on a sustainable budget. The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer—just three and a half years from Fuse’s founding to a near‑complete UE5‑powered game—demonstrates the viability of the model.
"We started Fuse in January 2023, and now we have a studio, a team, and a finished game on an engine none of us previously knew," he says proudly. A notable aspect of Fuse’s culture is its emphasis on youthful talent. Alongside the Criterion veterans, many younger developers have joined the project, including a producer with no prior game‑development experience. Webster praises this fresh perspective: "They are smarter and more effective in many ways than I was at that age.
It’s extraordinary. We’ve had greater success with our young talent than with some senior hires." He observes that seasoned developers often prefer working with equally senior peers, which can limit mentorship opportunities. By focusing on nurturing younger staff, Fuse hopes to create a more dynamic and innovative environment.
Looking ahead, Webster envisions an intern program to further cultivate emerging talent, though he acknowledges the studio is still pre‑revenue. He cites Criterion’s successful internship pipeline as a model and stresses the importance of entering such initiatives with eyes wide open about the costs involved. Webster also reflects on a period five or six years ago when the industry was flush with cash and many successful developers received funding to launch their own studios.
He argues that money should have been allocated to strong teams rather than to the myth of a singular creative visionary—a notion he calls "fucking bullshit." In his view, games are always the product of collaborative effort, not solo genius. As for Fuse’s future beyond Galactic Racer, Webster admits plans are still forming.
The launch is just the beginning, and the studio remains open to new opportunities and ideas. "Independent developers need to stay flexible and adaptable," he says, emphasizing that the next steps will be shaped by market response, creative ambition, and the ever‑changing landscape of the gaming industry.