Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within Electronic Arts. He started at the company back in 1990 and spent almost twenty years developing titles for Criterion, the studio behind Burnout and Need for Speed, which EA acquired in 2004. In early 2023, however, Webster teamed up with former Criterion colleagues Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires and Alan McDairmant to launch an independent studio in the United Kingdom called Fuse Games. Roughly three and a half years later, that fledgling studio is preparing to ship its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, under the banner of the newly independent publisher Secret Mode.
Galactic Racer arrives more than two decades after the last Star Wars‑themed racing game, 2002’s Racer Revenge, and it does so at a time when the racing genre has generally lost some of its mainstream momentum. Amazon recently walked away from a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for its upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis explaining that the project didn’t seem to fit the current market.
Meanwhile, Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style racers, has shifted its focus to the Battlefield franchise. Despite these signals, Webster is convinced there is still a hungry audience for a Star Wars racing experience. “Clearly we 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 adds that video‑game genres tend to be cyclical.
“We went through a phase where shooters dominated, but that’s not the only genre that can capture players’ attention. As more people play games, even the tiniest niches can find a larger fan base.” Webster believes gamers are searching for "fun, interesting, compelling new experiences that they haven’t seen before," and he feels Galactic Racer delivers exactly that.
The studio’s vision is to blend the instant gratification of classic arcade racing with the freedom that comes from being untethered to realistic tyres and tarmac. “We have tracks that climb the side of an active volcano,” he explains. “Sometimes it feels more like a roller‑coaster than a traditional circuit.” Beyond the high‑octane thrills, Galactic Racer deliberately subverts several long‑standing conventions of the racing genre. Most racing games rely on a car‑collection model that has remained largely unchanged for the past twenty years.
Webster wants to rip that formula apart and borrow mechanics from other genres. One such experiment is the introduction of meaningful consequences for crashing. In many modern racers, a rewind button eliminates any penalty for a mistake, but Fuse wants to bring the risk back.
"If you crash too many times you’re sent back to the start, but you keep some meta‑progression that puts you in a stronger position," he says. "When you’re on your last allowed crash, the tension is real, and you start weighing the risk of pushing harder." The game’s structure also draws inspiration from roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire—games built around infinite replayability. "Racing thrives on replayability, so marrying it with roguelike loops feels like a match made in heaven," Webster notes. The design encourages players to experiment, learn from each run, and improve over time, creating a loop that keeps the experience fresh long after the initial launch.
Releasing the game on October 6 places it between several heavyweight launches. Grand Theft Auto VI is slated for November 19, while September 24 saw the releases of Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall. Some industry observers warned that September would be a crowded window, but Webster recalls past years when October was considered the busiest month—what used to be called “murderer’s row.” He acknowledges the competition but says Fuse Games approaches it with a “healthy sense of confidence” tempered by a realistic view of how the market might respond.
“I’ve always been told good games will find a way, so we’re hoping our game will find its audience,” he says. Webster’s perspective on risk and layoffs reflects his long tenure in the industry.
He remembers a wave of layoffs about fifteen years ago and notes that great teams make great games, and great games attract audiences. “What we’re seeing now is a lot of aversion to risk,” he observes. “That creates opportunities for those willing to take calculated bets and push forward. If you’re overly cautious, you limit those opportunities.” Starting a new studio in 2023 has not been without challenges.
Funding was hard to secure, and many questioned the wisdom of launching an independent studio at a time when big publishers dominate. Webster recounts the skepticism he faced: “People were like, ‘you’re brave doing an independent studio in 2023.’ I’d spent 32 years at EA in a bubble, so this was all new.” He emphasizes a set of principles that guided Fuse: build a talented team, refine a clear creative vision, maintain discipline while accepting that plans will inevitably change, and stay true to core values.
Engaged and motivated talent, he argues, is the engine that produces great games. Fuse’s core team is relatively small for a title of AAA ambition—around 75 people. The studio deliberately avoided the typical “grow‑shrink‑grow” cycle that plagues many developers. Instead, they rely on external partners to fill skill gaps, using a hybrid model that mixes transactional outsourcing with deep co‑development.
In co‑development arrangements, external studios become extensions of the core team, attending stand‑ups, joining Slack channels, and contributing directly to the code base. Webster highlights the UK’s mature development ecosystem as a fertile ground for such collaborations, noting that today’s studios are more willing to partner than in the past when cooperation often felt forced. According to Webster, this blended approach demonstrates that a AAA‑scale game can be produced on a sustainable budget when a lean permanent team is augmented by trusted partners who share the same values. The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer—just three and a half years from Fuse’s founding to a near‑ready product—serves as proof of concept.
"We started Fuse in January 2023, and three and a half years later we have a studio, a team, and a game built on Unreal Engine 5, an engine none of us originally knew inside out. It feels like an achievement, and we did it in a healthy, sustainable way," he says. The studio’s talent mix is another point of pride. While several veterans from Criterion are present, many younger developers have joined the project, including a producer with no prior game‑development experience.
"The young talent we’ve got is incredibly smart and effective—often more so than I was at their age," Webster remarks. He believes nurturing junior staff is more beneficial than relying solely on seasoned veterans who may prefer to work in isolation. This philosophy has even prompted Fuse to adjust its hiring strategy to prioritize fresh perspectives.
Looking ahead, Webster hopes to establish an intern program to further cultivate young talent, though he acknowledges that Fuse is still pre‑revenue. He points to Criterion’s historic success with internship pipelines as a model they hope to emulate, while also recognizing the costs involved in developing new talent. Reflecting on the industry’s past excesses, Webster recalls a period five or six years ago when abundant funding allowed successful developers to spin off their own studios—often with mixed results. He criticizes the industry’s lingering fascination with the myth of the “singular creative visionary,” calling it “bullshit.” In his view, games are always collaborative endeavors, and the focus should shift from idolizing individual auteurs to empowering strong, cohesive teams.
As for Fuse’s next steps, Webster admits the future is still being mapped out. The launch of Galactic Racer is just the beginning, and the studio remains open to exploring new opportunities and directions.
However, he stresses that independent developers must stay flexible and adaptable in a constantly evolving market. "We have ideas about where we want to go, but we have to be ready to pivot as the landscape changes," he concludes.