Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He arrived at the company in 1990 and spent nearly twenty years shaping iconic franchises such as Burnout and Need for Speed while working at Criterion, the studio EA acquired in 2004.
In early 2023, however, Webster joined forces with fellow Criterion alumni Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires and Alan McDairmant to launch an independent studio in the United Kingdom called Fuse Games. Just three and a half years later the fledgling team is poised to ship its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, under the banner of the newly autonomous publisher Secret Mode. Galactic Racer marks the first Star Wars‑themed racing game in roughly a quarter of a century, the previous effort being 2002’s Racer Revenge.
In the intervening years the racing genre has generally lost steam. Amazon recently walked away from a publishing agreement with 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. Meanwhile Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style speed, has shifted its focus to the Battlefield franchise, further underscoring the perception that racing games are a waning category. Despite those signals, Webster is convinced there is still a hungry audience for a Star Wars‑centric racer.
“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 response we get from people watching our videos and reading our 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 rise again. “As more and more people play video games, even the tiniest niches find a bigger audience,” he added. Webster believes players 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 racing while also exploring what becomes possible when you free yourself from the constraints of real‑world tyres and tarmac. “We have tracks that climb the side of an active volcano,” he explained. “It feels like a roller‑coaster at times.” Beyond the high‑octane thrills, Galactic Racer deliberately subverts long‑standing racing conventions.
The traditional model of car collection—a staple that has remained largely unchanged for two decades—has been tossed aside in favor of mechanics borrowed from other genres. The game emphasizes consequential decision‑making, particularly around crashes. In many modern racers, a rewind button erases the impact of a mistake, but Fuse wants crashes to matter.
“When you crash too many times you’re sent back to the start, but you keep some meta‑progression with you,” Webster said. “That consequence forces you to weigh risk versus reward, especially when you’re on your last life.” The design philosophy draws heavily from roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire, which are built for infinite replayability. “Racing thrives on replayability, so marrying it with roguelike structures feels like a match made in heaven,” he noted. Each run offers a fresh configuration of upgrades, hazards and shortcuts, encouraging players to experiment and improve over successive attempts.
Launching on October 6, Galactic Racer lands a month before the highly anticipated GTA 6 release on November 19, but after other major September launches like Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall (September 24). Webster acknowledges the crowded calendar but reminds us that the industry has weathered even busier pre‑Christmas windows before. “People used to call October ‘Murderer’s Row,’ and it was always packed with releases,” he recalled.
“We have a healthy confidence, tempered by a realistic view of how things might turn out.” The conversation inevitably turned to the wave of layoffs sweeping the sector. Having lived through a previous bout of cuts fifteen years ago, Webster sees a pattern: great teams produce great games, and great games find their audience. He argues that an aversion to risk is currently limiting opportunity, and that those willing to take calculated bets can thrive. “If you’re afraid to make bold moves, you’ll miss the chances that others are too cautious to pursue,” he said.
Funding, however, has not been easy for a brand‑new studio in 2023. “People told me I was brave to start an independent studio now,” Webster laughed. After thirty‑two years at EA, he was stepping out of a comfortable bubble. He leaned on core principles: building a solid team, sharpening a creative vision, and maintaining disciplined planning—while accepting that any plan is provisional and must be iterated upon.
“Engaged, motivated talent produces great work, so it’s our job to keep them inspired,” he emphasized. Fuse Games remains relatively small for a project of AAA scope, numbering about 75 core staff. This size is intentional; the studio avoids the typical boom‑and‑bust cycle of rapidly expanding and contracting teams.
Instead, it supplements its internal crew with external partners, ranging from transactional outsourcing for asset creation to full co‑development arrangements where outside studios sit in on daily stand‑ups, Slack channels and even share the code base. Webster highlights the UK’s mature development ecosystem as a fertile ground for such collaborations, noting that today’s external studios are eager to work across diverse projects rather than clinging to a single in‑house title. According to Webster, this hybrid model proves that a AAA‑level game—measured by scope, visual fidelity and ambition—can be delivered on a sustainable budget when a lean core team leverages trusted external talent. The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer testifies to that.
“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 knew at the start. It feels like a real achievement, and we did it in a healthy, sustainable way,” he said.
A notable aspect of Fuse’s culture is its blend of veteran expertise and fresh blood. While the studio includes several Criterion veterans, many younger developers have been hired, and at least one producer had never worked in games before joining the project. “Our young talent is incredibly smart and effective—often more so than I was at their age,” Webster remarked.
He observed that seasoned developers sometimes prefer senior colleagues who require little guidance, but that nurturing younger staff creates a more dynamic and motivated environment. This insight has even reshaped the studio’s hiring strategy toward a greater emphasis on emerging talent.
Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalize an internship program to continue feeding the pipeline of new developers, though he acknowledges the studio is still pre‑revenue. He points to Criterion’s historic success with its own intern initiatives as a model worth emulating, while warning that developing talent incurs real costs that must be recognized. Reflecting on the era a few years ago when the industry was flush with cash, Webster recalls how many successful teams were given funding to spin out their own studios, only to discover the challenges of independence.
He argues that money should have been allocated to strong teams rather than to the myth of the “singular creative visionary,” a notion he calls “fucking bullshit.” In reality, games are collaborative creations involving many individuals. As for Fuse’s next steps, the future remains open‑ended. The launch of Galactic Racer is just the beginning, and the studio is already contemplating new opportunities. “We have ideas about where we want to go next, but as an independent developer you have to stay flexible and adaptable,” Webster concluded.
The team’s confidence, innovative design choices, and commitment to a balanced development model suggest that Star Wars: Galactic Racer could be the catalyst for a broader renaissance of niche, high‑quality racing experiences in the modern gaming landscape.