Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within Electronic Arts’ walls. He started at EA in 1990 and spent almost twenty years collaborating with Criterion, the studio behind Burnout and Need for Speed, which 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. Fast‑forward three and a half years, and Fuse is on the brink of releasing 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 racing experience, 2002’s Racer Revenge, and it does so at a moment when the racing genre has largely slipped out of the mainstream spotlight. Amazon recently walked away from a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for the upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis remarking that the market simply didn’t have a place for it.
Meanwhile, Criterion, once a racing powerhouse, has shifted its focus to the Battlefield franchise. Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced there is a hungry audience for a Star Wars‑themed racer. “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, and the reaction we get from videos and articles suggests we’re not alone.” He points out that gaming trends are cyclical.
“Genres rise and fall,” Webster explains. “We went through a phase where shooters dominated, but that’s not the whole story. As more people play video games, even the tiniest niches can find a sizable following.” According to him, modern gamers crave fresh, compelling experiences that they haven’t seen before, and he believes Galactic Racer delivers exactly that.
Fuse set out to capture the instant‑gratification feel of classic arcade racers while also exploring what can be done when developers are no longer constrained by realistic tires and pavement. “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 aims to upend long‑standing racing conventions. Traditional racers have relied on a car‑collection model for roughly two decades; Webster wants to rip that formula apart and borrow mechanics from other genres.
One of those borrowed ideas is the notion of meaningful consequences, a concept often diluted in modern racers by the presence of rewind or respawn buttons. In Galactic Racer, crashes carry weight. Too many crashes send the player back to the start, but they retain a sliver of meta‑progression that places them in a stronger position on the next attempt.
“When you’re on your last crash and the system is critical, you really start to feel the risk you’re taking,” Webster notes. This design philosophy 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 acknowledges that this approach is a bold departure from the hand‑holding typical of many AAA releases, especially as the industry prepares for heavyweight launches like GTA 6.
Galactic Racer is slated for October 6, giving it a comfortable window before GTA 6’s November 19 release, yet it still lands amid a crowded September‑October slate that includes titles like Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall. “People always say September looks busy, but I remember the ‘Murderer’s Row’ era where October was jam‑packed,” he recalls. The studio maintains a “healthy sense of confidence” while keeping a realistic outlook on how the market might respond.
When the conversation turns to the wave of layoffs sweeping the industry, Webster reflects on his long tenure. He remembers a previous round of cuts about fifteen years ago and emphasizes a timeless truth: great teams make great games, and great games find their audience. He argues that today’s risk‑averse climate actually opens doors for developers willing to take calculated bets. “If you shy away from risk, you limit opportunity,” he says.
Starting an independent studio in 2023 has not been without hurdles. Funding proved elusive, with many questioning the wisdom of launching a new studio in a tough economic climate. Webster admits, “I spent 32 years at EA inside a bubble.
Starting Fuse was a whole new world.” He leaned on core principles learned over his career: assemble a talented team, sharpen a creative vision, build a disciplined plan (knowing it will evolve), and stay true to core values. Engaged, motivated talent, he believes, is the engine that drives exceptional outcomes.
Fuse operates with a relatively lean core—about 75 people—by design. Rather than inflating and deflating staff sizes as projects come and go, the studio relies heavily on external development partners to fill gaps. This hybrid model ranges from pure outsourcing for asset creation to deep co‑development where outside studios participate in daily stand‑ups, Slack channels, and even share the code base. Webster highlights the UK’s mature development ecosystem as a key advantage, noting that today’s partner studios are eager to collaborate across multiple projects, keeping their work fresh and exciting.
According to Webster, this small‑core‑plus‑partners approach proves that a AAA‑scale game can be delivered on a sustainable budget without the traditional bloat. “We started Fuse in January 2023. Three and a half years later we have a studio, a team, and a UE5‑powered game that none of us previously knew how to build. It feels like an achievement, and we did it sustainably.” A notable aspect of Fuse’s workforce is the infusion of young talent.
While the studio includes veterans from Criterion, many of its developers are newcomers, and one of the producers had never worked in games before joining the project. Webster is enthusiastic about this generational blend: “Our younger staff are often smarter and more effective than I was at that age. We’ve had greater success with them than with some senior hires.” He observes that seasoned developers sometimes prefer senior colleagues who need little guidance, but that dynamic can stifle growth.
By nurturing younger staff, Fuse creates a mutually motivating environment. Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalize an internship program to further cultivate fresh talent, though he admits the studio is still pre‑revenue. He points to Criterion’s successful intern pipelines as a model and stresses the importance of entering such initiatives with eyes wide open, aware of the costs involved in developing talent.
Reflecting on the industry’s past money‑rich era, Webster recalls how successful teams were often handed funding to start their own studios, only to discover the reality was far tougher than expected. He criticizes the lingering myth of the “single creative visionary” as “bullshit,” insisting that games are always collaborative efforts.
As for Fuse’s next steps, Webster keeps the future open-ended. The launch of Galactic Racer is just the beginning, and the studio remains flexible, ready to explore new opportunities as they arise. He concludes with a pragmatic optimism: “Good games will find a way.
We’re hoping they do.”