Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within Electronic Arts. He started there in 1990 and spent almost twenty years at Criterion, the studio behind Burnout and Need for Speed, before EA acquired the company in 2004. In early 2023, however, Webster teamed up with former Criterion colleagues Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires and Alan McDairmant to launch the independent UK studio Fuse Games.
Just over three 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. 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 largely slipped out of the mainstream spotlight. Amazon recently cancelled 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 itself has shifted focus away from cars and toward the Battlefield franchise. Despite these signals, Webster is convinced a market still exists. “We clearly see an audience for a Star Wars racing game,” he told GamesIndustry.biz. “Our community of fans, the people who watch our videos and read our articles, suggest we’re not the only ones who think this could work.” He points out that genres tend to be cyclical.
After a period dominated by shooters, other types of games inevitably re‑emerge. “As more people play video games, even the tiniest niches find a larger audience,” he added. Webster believes gamers are hungry for fresh, compelling experiences that feel new.
He argues that Galactic Racer delivers exactly that by blending classic arcade thrills with imaginative, physics‑defying track design. “We wanted the instant gratification of an arcade racer, but we also wanted to explore what’s possible when you’re not limited by real‑world tyres and tarmac,” he explained. One example he cites is a course that spirals up the side of an active volcano, turning a race into a roller‑coaster‑like spectacle.
Beyond the visual flair, the game aims to upend long‑standing racing conventions. Most racing titles have relied on a car‑collection model for the past two decades. Webster wants to rip that formula apart and borrow mechanics from other genres. Galactic Racer incorporates consequential decision‑making, especially around crashes.
In many modern racers a rewind button eliminates any penalty for a mistake, but Webster wants crashes to matter. “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 the next run,” he said.
This risk‑reward loop is inspired by roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire, which are built around infinite replayability—a perfect match for a racing game that thrives on repeated runs. The design philosophy also represents a shift away from the hand‑holding typical of many AAA releases. Webster acknowledges the challenge of standing out in a crowded market, especially in a year when blockbuster titles like GTA 6, Control: Resonance, and Silent Hill: Townfall are slated for release.
Galactic Racer is set for launch on October 6, giving it a modest gap before GTA 6’s November 19 debut while still landing amid a busy September‑October window. “We’ve seen even busier pre‑Christmas schedules in the past,” he noted, recalling the industry’s historic “Murderer’s Row” of releases. “We have a healthy confidence, tempered by a realistic view of how things may turn out.” Webster’s perspective on risk extends to his view of the broader industry. He has witnessed two waves of layoffs and recalls a previous round of cuts about fifteen years ago.
“Great teams make great games, and great games find an audience,” he observed. He argues that today’s market is risk‑averse, which creates opportunities for studios willing to take calculated bets.
However, he also admits that founding an independent studio in 2023 has been far from easy. Funding was scarce, and many questioned his decision to leave the safety of EA after 32 years. Webster’s answer was to lean on core principles: build a strong team, refine a clear creative vision, and maintain disciplined planning while staying adaptable. Fuse Games operates with a relatively lean core—around 75 people—by design.
Rather than expanding and contracting staff in the typical AAA fashion, the studio relies heavily on external partners. “We use trusted co‑development studios as extensions of our team,” Webster explained.
These partners attend daily stand‑ups, join Slack channels, and contribute directly to the codebase, blurring the line between internal and outsourced work. The UK’s mature development ecosystem makes this model especially viable, as many companies now embrace collaborative projects rather than hoarding talent.
Webster believes this hybrid 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 product built on Unreal Engine 5—demonstrates the model’s effectiveness.
“We started Fuse in January 2023 and have built a studio, a team, and a game on technology none of us previously mastered,” he said proudly. A notable aspect of Fuse’s strategy is its emphasis on younger talent. Alongside the Criterion veterans, the studio has hired many developers early in their careers, even a producer who had never worked in games before. “Our young staff are often smarter and more effective than we were at that age,” Webster remarked.
He argues that nurturing junior talent not only energises the team but also yields better results than relying solely on senior hires who may prefer working in isolation. Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalise an internship program to further develop fresh talent, though he acknowledges the studio is still pre‑revenue. He points to Criterion’s successful intern pipelines as a model and stresses that any such initiative must be approached with clear eyes about the costs involved. Reflecting on an era when the industry was flush with money, Webster recalls how many developers received funding to start their own studios after a hit game, only to discover how hard it truly is to succeed independently.
He criticises the industry’s lingering fixation on the “single creative visionary” myth, calling it “bullshit.” In his view, games are always the product of collaborative effort. As for Fuse’s next steps, Webster says the launch of Galactic Racer is just the beginning.
The studio remains open to new opportunities and has several ideas for future projects, but he stresses that flexibility and adaptability are essential for any independent developer today.