Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He started at the publisher in 1990 and spent almost twenty years contributing to the iconic Burnout and Need for Speed series while they were under Criterion, a studio EA acquired in 2004. Yet in early 2023 Webster, together with former Criterion colleagues Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires and Alan McDairmant, decided to strike out on their own and launch Fuse Games, an independent studio based in the United Kingdom.
Three‑plus years later the fledgling company is poised to ship its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, which will be published by the newly autonomous label Secret Mode. The timing of Galactic Racer’s arrival is noteworthy. The last Star Wars‑themed racing game, Racer Revenge, hit shelves in 2002 – a full 24 years ago. In the intervening decades, the racing genre has struggled to maintain mainstream appeal.
Recent industry headlines illustrate this shift: Amazon abandoned a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for its upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis noting that the product didn’t fit the market. Meanwhile, Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style racers, has redirected its resources toward the Battlefield franchise. Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced there is still a hungry audience for a Star Wars racing experience.
“We clearly see demand for a Star Wars‑based racer,” he told GamesIndustry.biz. “Our community feedback – video views, article reads – suggests we’re not the only ones who think there’s a market.” He points out that gaming trends are cyclical.
“Shooters dominated for a while, but genres rise and fall. As more people play games, even the tiniest niches can find a sizable fanbase.” Webster believes players are craving “fun, interesting, compelling new experiences they haven’t seen before,” and he feels Galactic Racer delivers exactly that.
The studio’s vision is to create something fresh, blending classic arcade thrills with imaginative, physics‑defying tracks. “We wanted the instant gratification of an arcade racer, but also to explore what’s possible when you’re not limited by real‑world tyres and tarmac,” he explains. 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 spectacle, Galactic Racer seeks to upend long‑standing conventions of the racing genre.
Traditionally, racers have relied on a car‑collection model that has changed little in two decades. Webster wants to tear that formula apart and borrow mechanics from other genres.
“We’re introducing meaningful consequences for crashes,” he says. In many modern racers, a rewind button erases any penalty, but Fuse wants crashes to matter. “If you crash too often, you’re sent back to the start, but you retain some meta‑progression that makes you slightly stronger. The last crash feels tense because you’re weighing risk versus reward.” The design philosophy draws heavily from roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire, which prioritize infinite replayability.
“Racing thrives on replay value, so marrying it with roguelike structures feels like a perfect match,” Webster notes. This approach encourages players to experiment, learn from failure, and gradually improve over multiple runs, rather than relying on a static set of unlockable cars. Launching the game on October 6 positions it strategically between other heavyweight releases.
Grand Theft Auto VI is slated for November 19, while titles like Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall drop on September 24. Some industry observers warned that September is a crowded window, but Webster recalls that even in past years, October has been jam‑packed with releases – the so‑called “murderer’s row.” He acknowledges the competition but says Fuse Games approaches it with “a healthy confidence tempered by a realistic view of how things might turn out.” Webster’s optimism is rooted in a broader industry perspective.
He has witnessed two major waves of layoffs over his 30‑plus‑year career and notes that great teams consistently produce great games, which in turn find audiences. “There’s an aversion to risk right now,” he observes, “and that creates opportunities for those willing to take calculated bets.
If you shy away from risk, you limit your chances.” Funding, however, has not been easy for the newly formed studio. “People told me it was brave to start an indie studio in 2023,” he recalls.
After three decades at EA, stepping into the unknown required a reliance on core principles: assembling a talented team, refining a clear creative vision, and maintaining disciplined planning while staying adaptable. “Plans are always wrong, but they’re the best you have at the moment.
Review, adapt, and stay true to your values,” he advises. Fuse Games operates with a relatively lean core of about 75 staff – modest for a title with AAA ambitions.
This size is intentional, allowing the studio to avoid the typical “grow‑shrink‑grow‑shrink” cycle that plagues many developers. Instead, Fuse leans on external partners to fill skill gaps. “We use outsourcing for transactional asset creation and co‑development where external studios become extensions of our own team, joining our stand‑ups, Slack channels, and codebase,” Webster explains.
The United Kingdom, he says, is an ideal hub for this collaborative model because of its mature development ecosystem. In the past, external studios often helped out of necessity, but today many firms actively seek diverse projects to keep their talent engaged and motivated. This shift has made it easier for Fuse to find partners that share its values and work ethic. Webster believes this hybrid model – a small permanent core supplemented by trusted external collaborators – can deliver AAA‑level scope, scale, and visual fidelity on a sustainable budget.
The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer validates this belief: Fuse was founded in January 2023, and just three and a half years later the team has built a studio, assembled a workforce, and created a game in Unreal Engine 5, a technology none of them previously mastered. “It feels like an achievement, and we did it in a healthy, sustainable way,” he says. A notable aspect of Fuse’s culture is its emphasis on nurturing young talent.
While the studio includes several veteran Criterion alumni, many of its developers are newcomers to the industry, and one producer had never worked in games before joining. “Our young talent is smarter and more effective in many ways than I was at that age,” Webster enthuses. He argues that senior developers often prefer to work with equally senior colleagues, which can stifle mentorship.
By deliberately hiring and empowering younger staff, Fuse creates a dynamic environment where fresh ideas flourish. Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalize an internship program to further develop emerging talent, though he acknowledges the studio is still pre‑revenue. He points to Criterion’s successful intern pipelines as a model and stresses that investing in talent development requires a clear-eyed understanding of its costs. Reflecting on a period five or six years ago when the industry was flush with capital, Webster notes that many successful games led to founders receiving funding to start their own studios, only to discover the reality was far tougher than expected.
He criticizes the industry’s lingering fascination with the myth of the “singular creative visionary,” calling it “bullshit.” In his view, games are always the product of collaborative effort, not the vision of a lone auteur. As for Fuse’s future beyond Galactic Racer, Webster admits plans are still taking shape.
“The launch is just the beginning. We’ll be talking to partners about new opportunities, and we have ideas about where we want to go, but as an independent studio you have to stay flexible and adaptable.” He concludes with a pragmatic optimism: “Good games find a way. We’re hoping ours does too.”