Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He began his tenure at EA in 1990 and spent nearly twenty years contributing to the iconic Burnout and Need for Speed franchises while they were under the Criterion banner, a 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 founded the independent UK studio Fuse Games. Roughly three and a half years later, Fuse is poised to release its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, which will be published by the freshly independent Secret Mode.
Galactic Racer arrives roughly 24 years after the last Star Wars‑themed racing game, the 2002 release Racer Revenge. In the intervening decades, the racing genre has lost some of its mainstream momentum. 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 didn’t appear to be a natural fit for the project.
Meanwhile, Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style racers, has shifted its focus to the Battlefield franchise. Despite these signals, Webster remains confident that a market for a Star Wars racing experience still exists. “We clearly believe there’s an audience for a Star Wars racing game,” he told GamesIndustry.biz.
“We’re not the only ones who think that, and the response we’ve seen to our videos and articles suggests we’re not alone.” He points out that gaming genres tend to be cyclical. After a period dominated by shooters, other genres inevitably re‑emerge. As more people worldwide pick up video games, even the tiniest niches can gather a substantial following. Webster argues that players today crave "fun, interesting, compelling new experiences that 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 exploring what can be done when you’re no longer limited by realistic tyres and tarmac. “We have tracks that climb the side of an active volcano,” he explains. “Sometimes it feels like a roller‑coaster.” Beyond the high‑octane thrills, Galactic Racer deliberately subverts long‑standing racing conventions. Traditionally, racing games have revolved around car collection—a formula that hasn’t changed much in two decades.
Webster wants to tear that model apart and borrow mechanics from other genres. One key innovation is the introduction of meaningful consequences for crashing. In many modern racers, a rewind button erases the penalty for a mistake; Fuse wants to bring consequence back, making each crash matter.
The design is inspired by roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire, games built around infinite replayability. "Racing thrives on replayability," Webster notes, "so combining it with roguelike loops feels like a perfect match." In practice, if a player crashes too often they are sent back to the start of a run, but they retain a portion of meta‑progress that places them in a slightly stronger position for the next attempt.
This creates a tension between risk and reward: when you’re on your final allowed crash, you feel the pressure and must decide whether to push the limits or play it safe. It’s a stark departure from the hand‑holding typical of many AAA titles, but Webster believes it will help the game stand out in a crowded market, especially in a year that will also see the launch of GTA 6. Galactic Racer is slated for release on October 6, giving it a comfortable gap before GTA 6’s November 19 launch, yet it still lands close to other major releases such as Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall, both arriving on September 24. Webster acknowledges the busy pre‑holiday window but reminds us that the industry has always had packed schedules.
“People used to call October ‘Murderer’s Row,’” he says, “and we’re comfortable navigating that landscape.” He emphasizes that Fuse approaches the market with a “healthy sense of confidence” tempered by realistic expectations. When asked about the wave of layoffs sweeping the industry, Webster reflects on his long tenure. He remembers a similar layoff cycle fifteen years ago and notes that great teams produce great games, which in turn find an audience. He sees the current risk‑averse climate as an opening for studios willing to take calculated bets.
“If you’re afraid to risk, you limit your opportunities,” he warns. Funding, however, has not been a walk in the park for the newly formed studio. “People told me I was brave to start an independent studio in 2023,” Webster recalls.
After 32 years at EA, he was stepping out of a bubble. He leaned on principles he’d learned over his career: assemble a talented team, hone a clear creative vision, devise a disciplined plan—while accepting that plans will inevitably evolve—and stay true to core values. Engaged, motivated talent, he believes, is the engine that drives great games.
Fuse Games remains relatively small for a project of AAA scope, numbering around 75 core staff. This size is intentional; the studio wants to avoid the typical boom‑bust cycle of rapidly expanding and then shrinking teams. Instead, Fuse relies heavily on external development partners to fill capability gaps.
"We’re not doing the grow‑shrink‑grow‑shrink process," Webster says. "Our model could become the blueprint for future AAA development: a lean permanent core complemented by trusted external studios that share our values." External collaboration at Fuse ranges from pure outsourcing—transactional asset creation—to deep co‑development, where partner studios sit in Fuse’s daily stand‑ups, Slack channels, and even codebase. The UK, with its mature game development ecosystem, proves especially fertile for such partnerships. In the past, studios were reluctant to collaborate, preferring to keep work in‑house.
Today, many companies hire developers eager to work across multiple teams, keeping the workforce fresh and enthusiastic. Webster is convinced that this hybrid model can deliver AAA‑level scope, scale and visual fidelity on a more sustainable budget. The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer testifies to that belief. "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—a technology none of us originally mastered. It feels like an achievement, and we did it sustainably," he says.
A notable aspect of Fuse’s workforce is the infusion of younger talent alongside seasoned veterans. Some producers on Galactic Racer had never worked in games before joining the project. "The young talent we’ve hired is incredibly smart and effective—often more so than I was at their age," Webster enthuses. He observes that senior developers sometimes prefer working with equally senior colleagues who need little guidance, which can stifle growth.
By contrast, nurturing younger staff creates mutual motivation and energy. 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 historic success with its own intern pipelines as a model. "You have to go into it with eyes wide open and recognize the cost of developing talent," he cautions. Reflecting on the boom period five or six years ago when abundant funding allowed successful teams to spin off their own studios, Webster notes that many underestimated the challenges of independence. He argues that money would have been better allocated to strong teams rather than to the myth of the singular creative visionary—a notion he calls "fucking bullshit." In reality, games are collaborative endeavors.
As for Fuse’s future beyond Galactic Racer, Webster remains non‑committal. The launch is just the beginning, and the studio is open to exploring new opportunities and directions. He emphasizes that independent developers must stay flexible and adaptable in an ever‑changing industry. "We have ideas about where we want to go next, but we’ll have to see what the market and our resources allow," he concludes.