Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He started at EA in 1990 and spent almost twenty years developing iconic titles such as Burnout and Need for Speed after EA acquired Criterion in 2004.
Yet in early 2023, Webster, together with former Criterion colleagues Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires and Alan McDairmant, decided to leave the corporate giant and launch their own independent studio in the United Kingdom – Fuse Games. Fast‑forward three and a half years, and Fuse is on the brink of releasing its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, published by the newly independent 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 moment when racing games have generally slipped out of the mainstream spotlight. Amazon recently cancelled a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for the upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis explaining that the market simply didn’t seem to fit the project.
Meanwhile, Criterion, the very studio that helped define modern arcade racing, has shifted its focus toward the Battlefield franchise, leaving a noticeable void in the high‑octane racing space. Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced there is still a hungry audience for a Star Wars racing experience.
“We clearly believe there’s a market for a Star Wars‑based racing game,” he told GamesIndustry.biz. “We’re not the only ones who think that, and the reaction we get from our videos and articles suggests we’re not alone.” He points out that gaming 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 video games, even the tiniest niches can find a sizable following.” Webster says modern gamers are craving "fun, interesting, compelling new experiences that they haven’t seen before," and he feels Galactic Racer delivers exactly that.
The team set out to capture the instant‑gratification feel of classic arcade racers while also exploring what’s possible when you free yourself from the constraints of realistic tyres and tarmac. “Imagine a track that climbs the side of an active volcano – it’s practically a roller‑coaster,” he explains. Those over‑the‑top environments are meant to evoke the thrill of arcade‑style speed while still feeling fresh within the Star Wars universe. Beyond the visual spectacle, Galactic Racer aims to upend several long‑standing conventions of the racing genre.
Traditionally, racing games revolve around car collection – a formula that has remained largely unchanged for two decades. Webster wants to rip that model apart and borrow mechanics from other genres.
One of the most striking innovations is the game’s emphasis on meaningful consequences. In many modern racers, a rewind button can erase mistakes, diluting the sense of risk. Fuse re‑introduces real stakes: crashing too often forces the player back to the start, though a portion of meta‑progression carries over, granting a more powerful position on subsequent attempts.
This creates a tension that mirrors the high‑risk, high‑reward decisions found in roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire, which are built around infinite replayability. Webster elaborates: “When you’re on your last crash and the systems are critical, you literally feel the weight of that decision. You lean forward, you calculate the risk, and you understand that a mistake now could end your run.” By marrying the replay‑driven loop of roguelikes with the adrenaline of racing, Fuse hopes to craft a “match made in heaven,” as Webster puts it, because racing inherently thrives on repeated attempts and mastery.
Launching the game on October 6 positions it comfortably ahead of the highly anticipated GTA 6 release slated for November 19, yet still close enough to benefit from the heightened consumer attention surrounding major fall releases. The schedule also lands after other notable September launches such as Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall. While some industry observers warned that September would be a crowded month, Webster recalls that “murderer’s row” in the past was often October, indicating that a busy launch window is nothing new.
He acknowledges the competition but says Fuse approaches it with “a healthy sense of confidence tempered by a realistic view of how things may turn out.” The conversation naturally drifted toward the wave of layoffs sweeping the industry. Having lived through a similar contraction fifteen years earlier, Webster sees a pattern: great teams produce great games, and great games eventually find their audience. He argues that the current risk‑averse climate creates opportunities for studios willing to make calculated bets. “If you’re not willing to take those risks, you limit your chances of success,” he notes.
Funding, however, remains a formidable hurdle for new independent studios. Webster recounts the skepticism he faced when announcing Fuse in 2023: “People were like, ‘You’re brave starting an indie studio now?’” After 32 years at EA, he was stepping out of a bubble. His guiding principles became clear: build a strong, motivated team; refine a creative vision; maintain discipline in planning while accepting that plans will inevitably evolve; and stay true to core values. By adhering to these tenets, Fuse aims to keep talent engaged and motivated, believing that a passionate team is the engine behind any great game.
Fuse’s core team numbers roughly 75 people – modest by AAA standards – and this is intentional. Rather than inflating and deflating staff numbers as projects come and go, Fuse relies heavily on external development partners to fill skill gaps. The studio distinguishes between pure outsourcing, which is largely transactional asset creation, and co‑development, where external studios become an extension of Fuse’s own daily workflow, joining stand‑ups, Slack channels and even the codebase.
Webster highlights the UK’s mature game development ecosystem as especially conducive to this collaborative model, noting that today’s studios are eager to work across multiple projects, keeping their staff fresh and enthusiastic. According to Webster, this hybrid approach enables a AAA‑level scope, scale and visual fidelity while keeping the budget sustainable. The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer – from Fuse’s founding in January 2023 to a launch in just over three years – serves as proof of concept for this model. “We built a studio, assembled a team, and created a game on Unreal Engine 5, a tool none of us had mastered at the start,” he says, describing the achievement as both impressive and sustainable.
An additional noteworthy aspect of Fuse’s journey is the infusion of younger talent. While the studio includes veteran Criterion alumni, many of its developers are fresh faces, some even coming from outside the industry entirely. One producer, for instance, had never previously worked on a game. Webster expresses genuine excitement about this dynamic: “Our young talent is often smarter and more effective than I was at that age.
We’ve seen greater success with them than with some of the senior hires we brought in.” He observes that seasoned developers sometimes prefer to work with equally senior colleagues who require minimal interaction, a mindset that can stifle growth. By nurturing junior staff, Fuse believes it creates a more vibrant, collaborative environment. Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalize an internship program to further develop emerging talent, though he admits the studio is still pre‑revenue and financially cautious.
He draws inspiration from Criterion’s successful intern pipelines, acknowledging that such initiatives demand significant investment and realistic expectations. Reflecting on the industry’s past era of abundant funding, Webster recalls a time when successful games spawned spin‑off studios with generous backing, only for many founders to discover that running a studio is far tougher than anticipated. He criticizes the lingering myth of the “singular creative visionary” – a notion he calls “fucking bullshit.” In his view, games are always the product of collaborative effort, not the output of a lone genius. As for Fuse’s next steps, the studio remains flexible.
While the launch of Galactic Racer is just the beginning, Webster says the team is already exploring future opportunities and ideas, but will continue to adapt to the realities of being an independent developer. The overarching message is clear: by blending bold design, a lean yet collaborative development model, and a willingness to take calculated risks, Fuse Games aims to prove that even niche concepts—like a Star Wars arcade racer—can capture a growing, enthusiastic audience.