Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He started at EA in 1990 and spent nearly twenty years developing titles for the Criterion team, the studio behind Burnout and Need for Speed, which EA acquired in 2004.
In early 2023, however, Webster, together with former Criterion colleagues 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. Just 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 the launch is noteworthy. The last Star Wars‑themed racing game, *Racer Revenge*, hit shelves in 2002 – more than two decades ago. Since then, the racing genre has struggled to maintain a prominent place on the market. Amazon recently scrapped a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for a forthcoming driving title called *Clutch*, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis stating that the project didn’t fit the current market landscape.
Criterion itself has shifted focus away from racing, devoting its resources to the *Battlefield* franchise. Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced that a demand exists for a high‑quality Star Wars racing experience. "We clearly see an audience for a Star Wars racing game," he told GamesIndustry.biz.
"Our community feedback – video views, article reads – suggests we’re not the only ones who think so." He argues that gaming trends are cyclical. While shooters dominated the past few years, other genres inevitably resurface as the player base expands.
"The more people play video games, the larger even the tiniest niche becomes," Webster added. According to Webster, modern gamers are hungry for "fun, interesting, compelling new experiences they haven’t seen before," and he believes *Galactic Racer* delivers exactly that. The studio’s vision was to capture the instant gratification of classic arcade racers while also exploring possibilities that break free from the constraints of real‑world physics.
"We wanted to ask what could happen if you’re not limited by tyres and tarmac," he explained. The answer, he says, includes tracks that climb the sides of active volcanoes and courses that feel like roller‑coasters, offering players a sense of daring that traditional racing games rarely provide.
Beyond the adrenaline‑pumping thrills, *Galactic Racer* aims to subvert long‑standing genre conventions. Most racing games have relied on a car‑collection model for the past twenty years, a formula Webster wants to discard.
He proposes borrowing mechanics from other genres, particularly roguelikes, to inject fresh life into the racing formula. "We’re building a game around consequential decision‑making," he said, citing crashes as a concrete example. In many modern racers, a rewind feature nullifies the impact of mistakes, but *Galactic Racer* reinstates real consequences: too many crashes send you back to the start, though you retain a portion of meta‑progress that puts you in a stronger position on subsequent attempts. This risk‑reward loop encourages players to weigh each maneuver carefully, echoing the tension found in titles like *Hades*, *Returnal* and *Slay the Spire*.
Webster acknowledges that this approach represents a bold departure from the hand‑holding common in many AAA releases. Yet he sees it as necessary to stand out in a crowded calendar that includes heavyweight launches such as *GTA 6* (scheduled for November 19) and recent releases like *Control: Resonance* and *Silent Hill: Townfall* (both September 24). *Galactic Racer* is slated for an October 6 release, a window that offers enough breathing room from the biggest titles while still landing in a busy pre‑holiday season. "People have always said September looks busy, but I remember the ‘Murderers’ Row’ era when October was packed with releases," Webster recalled.
He remains confident, tempered by a realistic outlook: "Good games will find a way. We’re hoping they do." The interview also touched on the broader industry climate, especially the wave of layoffs that has swept through studios in recent years. Webster, who has witnessed multiple cycles of downsizing, believes that great teams produce great games, and great games ultimately find an audience.
He warns that an aversion to risk is limiting opportunities, and that studios willing to take calculated bets can carve out space for themselves. Funding, however, has not been easy for a new independent studio in 2023. "People told me I was brave to start an indie studio now," Webster said. After 32 years at EA, he found himself navigating unfamiliar territory.
He leaned on principles he’d learned over his career: assemble a talented team, clarify a creative vision, and maintain disciplined planning while staying adaptable. "The plan is always wrong, but it’s the best version you have today," he noted, emphasizing the importance of continuous review and alignment with core values. Fuse Games operates with a relatively small core team—about 75 people—for a project that aspires to AAA scope, fidelity and ambition. This deliberate size helps avoid the industry’s typical boom‑and‑bust staffing cycles.
Instead, Fuse supplements its internal talent with external partners, ranging from transactional outsourcing for asset creation to full co‑development arrangements where external studios join daily stand‑ups, Slack channels and codebases as if they were part of the core. Webster highlighted 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 their staff motivated and fresh.
Webster believes this hybrid model—small permanent team plus trusted external collaborators—offers a sustainable path to delivering AAA‑level experiences on a reasonable budget. The rapid development timeline of *Galactic Racer* serves as proof: Fuse was founded in January 2023, and within three and a half years they have built a studio, assembled a team, learned Unreal Engine 5 from scratch, and produced a full‑featured game. A noteworthy aspect of Fuse’s roster is the infusion of young talent. While the studio includes veterans from Criterion, many of its developers are newcomers to the industry; one producer, for example, had never worked in games before joining the project.
"The younger developers are often smarter and more effective than I was at their age," Webster said, praising their fresh perspectives. He observed that seasoned developers sometimes prefer senior colleagues who require minimal interaction, a mindset that can stifle mentorship. By deliberately nurturing younger staff, Fuse aims to create a culture where both mentors and mentees thrive.
Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalize an internship program, drawing inspiration from Criterion’s successful intern pipelines. He acknowledges that Fuse is still pre‑revenue, but sees the long‑term value in investing in talent development despite the upfront costs.
Reflecting on a period five or six years ago when the industry was flush with capital, Webster recalled how many teams received funding simply because they had delivered a hit title. He argues that money should have been allocated to strong teams rather than to a mythologized "single creative visionary"—a notion he calls "bullshit." In his view, games are collaborative endeavors, and the idea of a lone auteur is misleading.
As for Fuse’s future beyond *Star Wars: Galactic Racer*, Webster admits plans are still fluid. The studio views the launch as the beginning of a longer journey and remains open to exploring new opportunities. Flexibility and adaptability, he says, are essential qualities for independent developers navigating today’s ever‑changing market.