Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He began his tenure there in 1990 and later spent almost twenty years at Criterion, the studio behind Burnout and Need for Speed, which EA acquired in 2004. In early 2023, however, Webster joined forces 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 on the brink of releasing its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, a partnership with the newly autonomous publisher Secret Mode. Galactic Racer arrives roughly 24 years after the last Star Wars racing experience, 2002’s Racer Revenge, and it does so at a moment when traditional racing games have lost much of their mainstream appeal. Amazon recently walked away from a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for a forthcoming driving title called Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis explaining that the market simply didn’t seem to fit the product.
Meanwhile, Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style racers, has shifted its focus to the Battlefield franchise. Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced there is still a hungry audience for a Star Wars‑themed racing game. “We clearly see a demand for a Star Wars racing experience,” he told GamesIndustry.biz.
“Our community of fans, the people who watch our videos and read our posts, suggest we’re not the only ones who think this genre still has life.” He argues that video‑game genres are inherently cyclical. “We’ve had a period where shooters dominated, but that’s just one phase.
As more people play games, even the tiniest niche can grow into a sizable market.” According to Webster, gamers today are looking for "fun, interesting, compelling new experiences that they haven’t seen before," and he believes Galactic Racer delivers exactly that. The studio set out to capture the instant‑gratification feel of classic arcade racers while also exploring the possibilities that arise when a game is no longer bound by the physics of tires and tarmac. “Imagine a track that climbs the side of an active volcano,” he explains. “It’s like a roller‑coaster that can defy conventional racing logic.” Beyond the high‑octane thrills, Galactic Racer aims to overturn long‑standing conventions in the racing genre.
Traditionally, racers have relied on a car‑collection model that has remained largely unchanged for two decades. Webster wants to “rip that up and steal from other genres.” One of the most radical changes is the introduction of meaningful consequences for player mistakes.
In many modern racers, a rewind button eliminates the penalty for crashing; Galactic Racer brings the risk back, making each crash matter. If a player crashes too often, they are sent back to the start of the run, though they retain a degree of meta‑progression that puts them in a stronger position for the next attempt. This risk‑reward loop forces players to weigh their aggression against the possibility of a costly failure.
Webster cites roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire as design inspirations, noting that those games are built around infinite replayability. "Racing thrives on replayability," he says, "so marrying it with roguelike mechanics feels like a match made in heaven." The result is a game that encourages players to experiment, learn from each failure, and gradually build a more powerful racing deck, much like a card‑based roguelike. Releasing the game on October 6 places it strategically between the anticipated launch of GTA 6 on November 19 and other major September releases like Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall (September 24).
While some industry observers warned that September is a crowded window, Webster recalls that even historically, October has been a bustling month for launches—often referred to as “murderer’s row.” He acknowledges the competition but maintains that Fuse Games approaches the market with a “healthy confidence tempered by a realistic view of how things might turn out.” The conversation turns to the broader industry climate, especially the wave of layoffs that has swept through large studios. Webster, who has witnessed a similar contraction about fifteen years ago, believes great teams produce great games, and great games find their audience. He argues that a pervasive aversion to risk is limiting innovation, and that studios willing to take calculated bets will reap the rewards.
Funding an independent studio in 2023 has not been easy. Webster recounts how peers questioned his decision to start Fuse, noting that after 32 years at EA he was stepping out of a comfortable bubble. His guiding principles were simple: assemble a talented team, refine a clear creative vision, and maintain disciplined planning—while recognizing that any plan will inevitably need adjustment. He emphasizes that engaged, motivated talent is the engine of great games, and that a studio’s responsibility is to nurture that talent.
Fuse Games operates with a relatively lean core of around 75 staff, a deliberate choice to avoid the boom‑and‑bust staffing cycles common in AAA development. Instead of scaling the internal team up and down, Fuse leans on external partners for additional capacity. This hybrid model blends transactional outsourcing (pure asset creation) with deeper co‑development relationships where external studios sit in Fuse’s daily stand‑ups, Slack channels, and code repositories. Webster points out that the UK’s mature game‑development ecosystem makes it an ideal hub for such collaboration, noting a cultural shift from reluctant, grudging assistance to enthusiastic, value‑aligned partnerships.
Webster believes this approach demonstrates that a AAA‑scale game—measured by scope, visual fidelity and production ambition—can be delivered on a sustainable budget when a small permanent team is complemented by trusted external contributors. The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer underscores this belief: Fuse was founded in January 2023, and just three and a half years later the studio has built a full‑featured game on Unreal Engine 5, a technology none of the founders had mastered at the outset.
Another noteworthy aspect of Fuse’s journey is the infusion of fresh talent. Alongside the veteran Criterion alumni, the studio has hired numerous younger developers, even bringing on a producer who had never previously worked in games. Webster praises this new generation, saying they often outperform more senior hires in both creativity and efficiency. He observes that seasoned developers sometimes prefer to work with peers who require minimal mentorship, a dynamic that can stifle growth.
By focusing on nurturing junior staff, Fuse has discovered a more vibrant, innovative environment. Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalize an internship program to further cultivate emerging talent, though he admits the studio is still pre‑revenue and must tread carefully. He reflects on a period five or six years ago when the industry was flush with capital, noting that many well‑funded teams splintered into new studios only to discover the challenges of independence.
He criticizes the industry’s lingering fixation on the myth of the “single creative visionary,” calling it “bullshit” and insisting that games are fundamentally collaborative endeavors. As for Fuse’s future beyond Galactic Racer, Webster says the launch is just the beginning. The studio remains open to new opportunities and has ideas for subsequent projects, but he emphasizes the need for flexibility and adaptability in today’s independent development landscape. In sum, Webster’s vision combines a nostalgic love for arcade racing, a willingness to experiment with roguelike mechanics, and a commitment to sustainable, talent‑driven production—a formula he believes will resonate with both longtime fans and newcomers alike.