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 contributing to the Burnout and Need for Speed franchises while they were under the Criterion banner, which EA acquired in 2004. Yet in early 2023 Webster, together with fellow Criterion alumni 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 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‑themed racing game, Racer Revenge, hit shelves in 2002 – a full twenty‑four years ago. In the intervening decades the racing genre has struggled to maintain mainstream appeal. Amazon recently scrapped a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for its upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis noting that the market simply didn’t have room for another racer.
Meanwhile Criterion itself has shifted focus away from racing, devoting its resources to the Battlefield franchise. Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced there is a hungry audience for a Star Wars racing experience. “We clearly 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 reaction we get from people watching our videos or reading our articles suggests we’re not alone.” He argues that video‑game genres are cyclical. “We went through a phase where shooters dominated, but that’s not the only cycle. As more people play games, even the tiniest niches can find a sizable crowd.” Webster believes gamers are craving "fun, interesting, compelling new experiences that they haven’t seen before," and he feels Galactic Racer delivers exactly that. The studio set out to capture the instant gratification of classic arcade racers while also exploring what becomes possible when you are no longer bound by the physics of tyres and tarmac.
"Imagine a track that climbs the side of an active volcano," he explains. "It’s a roller‑coaster at speed." Beyond the high‑octane thrills, Galactic Racer aims to subvert long‑standing racing conventions.
Traditionally, racing games have built their progression around car collection—a formula that has remained largely unchanged for two decades. Webster wants to tear that model apart and borrow mechanics from other genres. The game incorporates consequential decision‑making, especially around crashing.
In most modern racers a rewind button erases the penalty of a mistake; Fuse decided to re‑introduce real consequences. "If you crash too often you’re sent back to the start, but you retain some meta‑progression that puts you in a stronger position," he says. "When you’re on your last allowed crash, the risk feels palpable." The design philosophy draws inspiration from roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire—games built for infinite replayability. "Racing thrives on replayability, so marrying it with roguelike loops feels like a match made in heaven," Webster notes.
Each run can yield different upgrades, route choices and risk/reward calculations, encouraging players to experiment and improve over multiple attempts. Launching in a crowded calendar, Galactic Racer will hit stores on October 6, sandwiched between blockbuster releases like Control: Resonance (September 24) and Silent Hill: Townfall (September 24), and a month before the highly anticipated GTA 6 slated for November 19. Webster acknowledges the competition but points out that the industry has always dealt with busy windows.
"People used to call September ‘Murderer’s Row,’ yet October has always been packed with big releases. We have a healthy confidence tempered by a realistic view of how things might unfold." The conversation inevitably turns to the wave of layoffs sweeping the sector. Webster, a veteran who lived through a similar contraction fifteen years ago, sees a pattern: great teams make great games, and great games find an audience. He warns that risk‑averse corporate cultures can stifle innovation, but also notes that calculated risk‑taking creates opportunities for independent studios willing to push boundaries.
Funding, however, has not been a free ride. "Access to capital has been a real challenge," Webster admits. "People said, ‘You’re brave starting an indie studio in 2023.’ After thirty‑two years at EA I was used to a bubble; this was a whole new world." He emphasizes a set of guiding principles: assemble a talented team, refine a clear creative vision, and maintain disciplined planning—while accepting that plans will inevitably change. Engaged, motivated talent, he says, is the engine that drives quality.
Fuse Games operates with a core team of roughly 75 people—a modest size for a title of AAA ambition. This intentional limitation avoids the industry’s typical “grow‑shrink‑grow” staffing cycles. Instead, Fuse leans heavily on external development partners to fill skill gaps. "We don’t follow the traditional scaling model; we keep a small permanent core and bring in trusted partners when needed," Webster explains.
The studio distinguishes between transactional outsourcing (pure asset creation) and true co‑development, where external studios sit in Fuse’s daily stand‑ups, Slack channels and codebase, effectively becoming extensions of the internal team. The United Kingdom, with its mature game‑development ecosystem, proves especially fertile for this collaborative approach. In the past, studios often helped each other out of necessity, but today many firms actively seek diverse projects to keep their staff energized and innovative.
This cultural shift, according to Webster, makes co‑development more appealing and sustainable. Webster believes this hybrid model—small core plus flexible partners—allows a studio to deliver AAA‑level scope, scale and visual fidelity on a sustainable budget. The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer validates the approach.
"We founded Fuse in January 2023. Three and a half years later we have a studio, a team, and a game built on Unreal Engine 5—a tool none of us previously mastered.
It feels like an achievement, and we did it in a healthy, sustainable way," he says. A notable aspect of Fuse’s workforce is the blend of seasoned Criterion veterans with a wave of younger developers, some of whom have never worked in games before.
"Our young talent is incredibly smart and effective—often more so than I was at their age," Webster remarks. He observes that senior developers sometimes prefer to work with peers who require minimal mentorship, which can limit growth opportunities for newcomers.
By deliberately nurturing fresh talent, Fuse has discovered a productivity boost and a more dynamic creative environment. Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalise an internship pipeline to continue attracting emerging talent, though he cautions that the studio is still pre‑revenue. He cites Criterion’s successful intern programs as a model and acknowledges the cost and effort required to develop junior staff.
Reflecting on a period five or six years ago when the industry was flush with capital, Webster notes that many developers received funding simply because they had a hit game under their belt, only to discover that running a studio is far harder than it appears. He argues that money should be allocated to strong teams rather than to the myth of a singular creative visionary—a notion he calls "fucking bullshit." In reality, games are collaborative creations.
As for Fuse’s next steps, the future remains open‑ended. "The launch is just the beginning for us," Webster says.
"We’ll be talking to partners about new opportunities, and we have ideas about where we want to go, but as an independent developer you have to stay flexible and adaptable."