Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within Electronic Arts. He started at EA in 1990 and spent nearly twenty years collaborating with Criterion, the studio behind Burnout and Need for Speed, before EA acquired Criterion in 2004. In early 2023, however, Webster, along with fellow Criterion alumni 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 the fledgling company stands on the brink of releasing its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, which will be 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 time when the racing genre has generally slipped out of the mainstream spotlight. Recent industry news underscores this trend: Amazon walked away from a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for the upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis stating, “we didn’t see a real fit in the market for that game.” 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 racing experience. “We clearly believe there’s an audience for a Star Wars racing game,” he told GamesIndustry.biz.
“We’re not the only ones thinking that, and the response we get from people watching our videos and reading our articles suggests we’re not alone.” He points out that genres tend to be cyclical. After a period dominated by shooters, other types of games inevitably resurface.
“As more people play video games, even the tiniest niches find a bigger audience,” Webster added. According to Webster, modern players are craving “fun, interesting, compelling new experiences they haven’t seen before,” and he feels Galactic Racer delivers exactly that.
The team set out to capture the instant gratification of classic arcade racers while also asking, “What can we do once we’re no longer bound by tyres and tarmac?” The answer includes wildly imaginative tracks that climb the side of an active volcano and feel like roller‑coasters, offering thrills that go beyond traditional road‑bound circuits. Beyond the spectacle, Galactic Racer aims to upend long‑standing racing conventions. Most racing games have relied on a car‑collection model for the past two decades. Webster wants to rip that formula apart and borrow mechanics from other genres.
One key innovation is the introduction of meaningful consequences for crashing. In many contemporary racers, a rewind button erases mistakes, but Fuse wants crashes to matter. “When you crash too many times you’re sent back to the start, but you keep some meta‑progression,” he explains.
“That means each crash forces you to weigh risk versus reward, especially when you’re on your last life.” The game’s design also draws inspiration from roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal, and Slay the Spire—games built around infinite replayability. Webster argues that racing, by nature, thrives on repeated runs, making the marriage of roguelike structure and high‑speed competition a “match made in heaven.” Launching on October 6, Galactic Racer lands well before the highly anticipated GTA 6, slated for November 19, yet it follows other major releases like Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall on September 24. Webster acknowledges the crowded pre‑holiday window but notes that the industry has weathered even busier schedules in the past.
“People used to call October ‘Murderer’s Row’ because it was packed with releases,” he recalls. “We have a healthy confidence tempered by a realistic view of how things might turn out.” When asked about the wave of layoffs sweeping the sector, Webster reflects on his long tenure. He remembers a similar downsizing period fifteen years ago and emphasizes a timeless truth: great teams make great games, and great games find an audience.
He warns that the current climate shows an aversion to risk, which, while limiting some developers, creates opportunities for those willing to take calculated bets. Funding, however, has been a hurdle for the newly formed studio.
“People said, ‘You’re brave starting an independent studio in 2023,’” Webster says. After 32 years at EA, he had to adapt to a different reality.
He stresses the importance of building a solid team, refining a clear creative vision, and maintaining discipline while staying flexible enough to iterate as circumstances change. Fuse Games operates with a relatively lean core—about 75 people—by design. Rather than expanding and contracting staff as projects evolve, the studio relies heavily on external partners to fill gaps. This hybrid model blends transactional outsourcing for asset creation with deeper co‑development relationships where external studios join daily stand‑ups, Slack channels, and even the codebase.
Webster highlights the UK’s mature development ecosystem as a fertile ground for such collaborations, noting that today’s studios are eager to work across multiple teams, keeping talent fresh and motivated. The result, he believes, is a sustainable pathway to producing AAA‑scale experiences without the bloated budgets traditionally associated with that tier.
“We started Fuse in January 2023. Three and a half years later we have a studio, a team, and a game built on Unreal Engine 5—something none of us previously knew inside out,” he says proudly. “We achieved this in a healthy, sustainable way.” A notable aspect of Fuse’s approach is its embrace of younger talent.
Many of the developers on Galactic Racer are early‑career professionals, and even one producer had never worked in games before joining the project. Webster observes, “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 senior hires.” He argues that nurturing fresh voices not only drives innovation but also creates a more engaging work environment for everyone involved.
Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalize an internship program to further cultivate emerging talent, though he cautions that the studio is still pre‑revenue. He points to Criterion’s historic success with intern pipelines as a model they hope to emulate once finances allow. Reflecting on the industry’s past excesses, Webster recalls a time when successful games attracted ample funding for spin‑off studios—only for many founders to discover that running a studio is far tougher than anticipated.
He criticizes the lingering myth of the “single creative visionary” as “bullshit,” insisting that games are fundamentally collaborative endeavors. As for Fuse’s next steps, Webster admits the future is still being written.
The launch of Galactic Racer is just the beginning, and the studio remains open to exploring new opportunities while staying adaptable—a necessity for independent developers navigating an ever‑changing market.