"As more gamers emerge, even the smallest niches attract larger audiences" – Why Matt Webster believes Star Wars: Galactic Racer will resonate

Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He started at EA in 1990 and spent nearly twenty years contributing to the Burnout and Need for Speed franchises while working at Criterion, the studio EA acquired in 2004. In early 2023, however, Webster, together with former Criterion colleagues Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires and Alan McDairmant, decided to strike out on their own and launch the independent UK studio Fuse Games.

Just over three years later, Fuse is poised to release its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, under the banner of the newly independent publisher 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 the racing genre has generally slipped out of the spotlight.

Amazon recently walked away from a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for its upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis stating that the project didn’t fit the market. Meanwhile, Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style racers, has pivoted toward the Battlefield franchise.

Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced that a demand exists. “We clearly 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 response we get from people watching our videos and reading our articles suggests we’re not alone.” Webster points out that video‑game genres are cyclical. After a period dominated by shooters, other types inevitably re‑emerge. "As more and more people play video games, even the tiniest of niches find a bigger audience," he explains.

He believes players are craving "fun, interesting, compelling new experiences that they haven’t seen before," and he sees Galactic Racer as a vehicle for that fresh experience. The design philosophy behind Galactic Racer is rooted in the instant gratification of classic arcade racing, while also exploring what’s possible when developers are no longer tied to realistic tyres and tarmac.

"We have tracks that climb the side of an active volcano," Webster says. "Sometimes it feels like a roller‑coaster." Beyond the high‑octane thrills, the game seeks to upend long‑standing conventions of the genre. Most racing games have relied on a car‑collection model for the past two decades. Fuse wants to tear that model apart and borrow mechanics from other genres.

One of the most striking innovations is the emphasis on consequence. In many modern racers, a rewind button eliminates the penalty for crashing, making mistakes feel inconsequential. Fuse re‑introduces stakes: crashing repeatedly forces the player back to the start, though some meta‑progression carries over, placing the player in a slightly stronger position. "When you’re on your last crash and you’re in a critical system, you really start to feel the risk you’re taking," Webster notes.

The game’s structure draws inspiration from roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire—games built for infinite replayability. "Racing thrives on replayability, so marrying it with roguelike loops feels like a match made in heaven," he says.

This blend aims to keep players engaged long after they finish the initial race, encouraging them to experiment with different strategies, vehicles and upgrades. Launching the game on October 6 places it between several heavyweight releases.

Grand Theft Auto VI is slated for November 19, while September saw the debut of Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall. Some industry observers warned that September would be a crowded month, but Webster recalls that October has historically been a bustling period—"murderers' row" as he puts it—so the team is prepared for a competitive window. Webster also reflects on the broader industry climate, especially the wave of layoffs that has swept through major publishers. He believes that great teams produce great games, and great games find audiences, regardless of market turbulence.

"What we’re seeing is a lot of aversion to risk," he says. "That creates opportunities for those willing to take calculated bets and push forward." He admits that securing funding for an independent studio in 2023 was challenging. After three decades at EA, stepping into the unknown required a return to core principles: building a talented team, refining a clear creative vision, and maintaining disciplined planning while staying adaptable. Fuse Games operates with a relatively lean core of about 75 people—small for a AAA‑scale title.

This size is intentional; the studio wants to avoid the boom‑and‑bust cycle of rapid hiring and layoffs that many larger studios experience. Instead, Fuse relies heavily on external development partners to fill gaps.

"We’re not doing that grow, shrink, grow, shrink process," Webster explains. "Our model is a permanent, small core team supplemented by trusted partners who share our values, whether they’re providing transactional asset creation or acting as an extension of our own development team in stand‑ups, Slack channels and code repositories." The United Kingdom, with its mature game‑development ecosystem, proves especially conducive to this co‑development approach. In the past, external studios might have been reluctant collaborators, but today many firms hire talent eager to work across diverse projects, keeping the workforce fresh and motivated.

Webster believes this hybrid model allows a studio to deliver AAA‑level scope, scale and visual fidelity on a more sustainable budget. The speed of Galactic Racer’s development underscores the viability of this approach. Fuse was founded in January 2023; 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 initially mastered.

"It feels like an achievement, and we’ve done it in a healthy, sustainable way," Webster says. A notable aspect of Fuse’s culture is its blend of veteran expertise and youthful energy. While several Criterion veterans anchor the project, many younger developers have joined, including a producer with no prior game‑development experience.

"The young talent we’ve got is smarter and more effective in many ways than I was at that age," Webster remarks. He observes that seasoned developers often prefer senior colleagues who need little guidance, but nurturing younger talent can be equally motivating for both parties. This insight has led Fuse to adjust its hiring strategy, placing greater emphasis on emerging talent.

Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalise an internship program to cultivate the next generation of creators, though the studio remains pre‑revenue at present. He points to Criterion’s successful intern initiatives as a model and acknowledges the cost and effort required to develop talent responsibly. Reflecting on a period five or six years ago when the industry was flush with capital, Webster recalls how many teams that rode the wave of a hit title received funding to start their own studios—only to discover the reality was far tougher than anticipated.

He argues that money should flow to strong teams rather than to a mythic "single creative visionary," which he dismisses as "fucking bullshit." In his view, games are collaborative endeavours, not the product of solitary geniuses. As for Fuse’s next steps, the future remains open‑ended. "The launch is just the start for us," Webster says. "We’ll be talking to people about potential opportunities, and we have ideas about where we want to go, but as an independent developer you have to stay flexible and adaptable."