Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within Electronic Arts. He started at the company in 1990 and spent nearly twenty years developing hits for Criterion, the studio behind Burnout and Need for Speed, which EA acquired in 2004. In early 2023, however, Webster teamed up 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 preparing to ship its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, under the banner of the newly autonomous 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 time when the racing genre has generally lost steam. Amazon recently walked away from a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for its upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis remarking that the market simply didn’t have room for another racer. Criterion, the studio where Webster cut his teeth, has shifted its focus from cars to the Battlefield franchise.
Yet Webster remains convinced that a demand still exists. “We clearly see an audience for a Star Wars racing game,” he told GamesIndustry.biz. “Our community feedback tells us we’re not alone in thinking that.” He points out that video‑game genres are cyclical. After a period dominated by shooters, other styles inevitably re‑emerge.
“The more people play games, the larger even the tiniest niche becomes,” Webster explained. Players, he says, are hungry for "fun, interesting, compelling new experiences 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 asking, “What can we do when we’re not limited by real‑world tyres and tarmac?” The answer includes tracks that climb the side of an active volcano and courses that feel more like roller‑coasters than traditional circuits. Beyond the high‑octane thrills, the game seeks to overturn long‑standing conventions of the racing genre. For two decades, most racers have relied on a car‑collection model; Webster wants to tear that apart and borrow mechanics from other genres. One of those borrowed ideas is meaningful consequence.
In many modern racers a rewind button erases the penalty for crashing, but Galactic Racer re‑introduces stakes. A crash can send you back to the start, though you retain some meta‑progression that makes you slightly stronger on the next attempt. The tension of “your last crash” forces players to weigh risk versus reward, echoing the design philosophy of roguelikes such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire, which prioritize infinite replayability.
"Racing thrives on replayability," Webster notes, "so pairing it with roguelike loops feels like a perfect match." Launching the game on October 6 positions it a comfortable month before the highly anticipated GTA 6 release on November 19, yet after other major titles like Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall, both slated for September 24. Webster acknowledges the crowded calendar but reminds us that the industry has weathered busier windows before.
"People used to call September ‘Murderers’ Row’ and still managed to stand out," he says, expressing a "healthy sense of confidence" tempered by realistic expectations. The conversation then shifts to the broader industry climate, especially the wave of layoffs. Webster, who has witnessed a similar downsizing period fifteen years ago, believes strong teams create great games, and great games find audiences.
He argues that today’s risk‑averse environment actually opens doors for studios willing to take calculated bets. Yet he concedes that founding an independent studio in 2023 was far from easy.
Funding was scarce, and many questioned his decision to leave the safety of EA after 32 years. Webster’s answer was to lean on core principles: build a talented team, crystalize a creative vision, craft a disciplined yet adaptable plan, and stay true to those values. Engaged, motivated talent, he says, is the engine that drives success. Fuse’s team is modest by AAA standards—about 75 people—but that size is intentional.
Rather than expanding and contracting staff as projects evolve, the studio relies on external partners to fill skill gaps. This hybrid model blends pure outsourcing (transactional asset creation) with deep co‑development, where outside studios join daily stand‑ups, Slack channels, and even the codebase.
The UK’s mature development ecosystem makes such collaboration especially fruitful; today’s studios are eager to work across projects, keeping their staff fresh and enthusiastic. Webster believes this lean‑core‑plus‑partners approach can deliver AAA‑level scope, scale and visual fidelity on a sustainable budget. The rapid development of Galactic Racer—starting Fuse in January 2023 and delivering a UE5‑powered game in just three and a half years—demonstrates the model’s viability.
A notable aspect of Fuse’s culture is its embrace of young talent. Alongside veteran Criterion alumni, the studio hired many newcomers, even a producer with no prior game‑industry experience.
"The younger developers are often smarter and more effective than I was at their age," Webster observes. He argues that seasoned developers sometimes prefer senior colleagues who need little guidance, but that mindset can stifle growth.
Nurturing fresh talent not only motivates the newcomers but also invigorates the veterans. Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalize an internship program, though the studio remains pre‑revenue. He points to Criterion’s historic success with its own intern pipeline as a model. He also reflects on the earlier era when successful games attracted generous funding for spin‑off studios—a trend that proved unsustainable for many.
The industry’s past fixation on a single “creative visionary” is, in his view, a myth; games are collaborative endeavors. As for Fuse’s next steps, the future is still being charted. The launch of Galactic Racer is just the beginning, and the studio remains open to new opportunities while staying adaptable—an essential trait for independent developers in today’s fast‑moving market.