Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He began his tenure at EA in 1990 and spent nearly twenty years contributing to iconic franchises such as Burnout and Need for Speed while working at Criterion, the studio EA acquired in 2004.
However, 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 establish the independent UK studio Fuse Games. Just over three years later the fledgling studio 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 24 years after the last Star Wars‑themed racing game, 2002’s Racer Revenge, and it does so at a time when the racing genre has lost some of its mainstream shine. Recent industry news underscores this shift: Amazon withdrew from a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for the upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis remarking that the market simply didn’t seem to have room for another racer.
Likewise, Criterion itself has pivoted away from pure racing projects toward the Battlefield franchise. Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced there is still a hungry audience for a Star Wars‑infused racing experience.
"Clearly we think there’s an audience for a Star Wars racing game," he told GamesIndustry.biz. "We don’t think we’re the only ones, and the feedback we get from people watching our videos and reading our articles suggests we’re not alone in that belief." Webster points out that gaming trends are cyclical. While shooters dominated the market for several years, other genres inevitably resurface as player tastes evolve.
"As more and more people play video games, even the tiniest of niches find a bigger audience," he explains. He believes gamers are constantly seeking "fun, interesting, compelling new experiences that they haven’t seen yet," and he feels Galactic Racer delivers exactly that. The design philosophy behind Galactic Racer embraces the instant gratification of classic arcade racers while also asking, "What could we do if we weren’t limited by tyres and tarmac?" The answer, according to Webster, is a series of wildly imaginative tracks that climb the sides of active volcanoes, zip through gravity‑defying loops, and feel more like roller‑coasters than traditional circuits. This arcade‑style thrill is paired with a deeper ambition: to upend long‑standing conventions of the racing genre.
For decades, racing games have relied on a car‑collection model—players earn or purchase new vehicles, often over a span of twenty years of incremental upgrades. Webster wants to rip that formula apart and borrow mechanics from other genres.
One of the most striking innovations is the introduction of meaningful consequences for crashing. In many modern racers, a rewind button erases any penalty, but Galactic Racer re‑introduces risk: too many crashes send the player back to the start of a run, though a portion of meta‑progression carries over, giving a slightly stronger foothold for the next attempt. This creates a tension similar to that found in roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal, and Slay the Spire, where each run is a fresh gamble but the player retains a sense of long‑term growth. Webster elaborates, "Games built for infinite replayability mesh perfectly with racing, because racing thrives on repeated attempts to shave off milliseconds.
By blending roguelike persistence with high‑speed competition, we think we’ve found a match made in heaven." The timing of the launch is also strategic. Galactic Racer is scheduled for release on October 6, a comfortable gap before the highly anticipated GTA 6, slated for November 19, yet close enough to ride the wave of other major releases like Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall, both hitting shelves on September 24.
While some observers warn that September and October are crowded windows, Webster recalls past years when October was dubbed "murderers’ row" for its dense line‑up of titles. He acknowledges the competition but maintains a "healthy sense of confidence" tempered by realistic expectations.
"Good games will find a way," he says, echoing a mantra that has guided him through industry ups and downs, including the wave of layoffs that has swept through studios in recent years. Webster reflects on his own experience of past layoffs, noting that great teams make great games, and great games attract audiences. He argues that the industry’s current aversion to risk actually creates openings for developers willing to take calculated bets. "If you’re not willing to risk, you limit your opportunity," he adds.
Launching a new studio in 2023 has not been without challenges. Funding, in particular, proved elusive. "People were like, ‘you’re brave doing an independent studio in 2023,’" Webster recalls. After 32 years at EA, he found himself navigating a very different landscape.
He leaned on core principles he’d learned over his career: assemble a talented, motivated team; refine a clear creative vision; devise a disciplined plan—while accepting that the plan will inevitably evolve; and stay true to those values. He believes that engaged talent is the engine of innovation. Fuse Games operates with a relatively lean core of roughly 75 staff, a deliberate choice to avoid the boom‑and‑bust staffing cycles that plague many larger studios.
Instead of expanding and contracting a massive in‑house team, Fuse leverages external development partners to fill skill gaps. This hybrid model ranges from transactional outsourcing—where external studios create assets on a contract basis—to full co‑development, where partner teams attend Fuse’s daily stand‑ups, share Slack channels, and contribute directly to the codebase.
Webster highlights the United Kingdom as an especially fertile environment for such collaboration, thanks to its mature game development ecosystem. In the past, external studios might have been reluctant to assist, preferring to focus on their own projects. Today, however, many companies hire developers who relish moving between different teams and projects, keeping their skills fresh and their enthusiasm high.
From Fuse’s perspective, this approach proves that a AAA‑scale game—measured by scope, visual fidelity, and ambition—can be delivered on a sustainable budget when a small, permanent core is augmented by trusted partners who share the same values. The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer illustrates this point.
Fuse was founded in January 2023; three and a half years later the studio has built a functional team, learned to work with Unreal Engine 5 (a technology none of the founders initially mastered), and produced a polished, market‑ready title. Another noteworthy aspect of Fuse’s strategy is its emphasis on youth. Alongside veteran Criterion alumni, the studio has recruited a wave of younger developers, even hiring a producer who had never previously worked in games. "We are thrilled with the young talent we’ve got," Webster says.
"They are often smarter and more effective in many ways than I was at that age. It’s extraordinary. In fact, we’ve had greater success with our younger talent than with some of the senior hires we brought in." Webster observes that seasoned developers sometimes prefer to work with peers of similar seniority, which can limit mentorship opportunities.
By contrast, nurturing younger staff creates a dynamic where both parties are motivated and engaged. He hopes to formalize this commitment through an intern program, though he acknowledges that Fuse is still pre‑revenue and must manage costs carefully. He points to Criterion’s historic intern initiatives as a model for future growth.
Looking back to a period five or six years ago when the industry enjoyed abundant capital, Webster recalls how many successful developers received funding to launch their own studios, only to discover that building a sustainable business is far harder than it appears. He argues that money should have been allocated to strong teams rather than idolized “single creative visionaries,” a notion he dismisses as "fucking bullshit." In his view, games are collaborative creations, not the product of solitary geniuses.
As for Fuse’s next steps, the future remains fluid. While the launch of Galactic Racer marks a significant milestone, Webster says the studio will continue to explore new opportunities and adapt to market conditions. "We have ideas about where we want to go next, but as an independent developer you have to stay flexible and adaptable," he concludes.