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 almost 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. Yet in early 2023, Webster, together with fellow Criterion alumni Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires and Alan McDairmant, decided to leave the corporate giant and launch an independent studio in the United Kingdom called Fuse Games.
Fast‑forward three and a half years, and the fledgling studio is poised to release its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, a game that will be published by the newly autonomous 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 its upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis stating that the market simply didn’t have room for another racer. Meanwhile, Criterion itself has shifted focus away from pure racing projects and is now channeling its energy into the Battlefield franchise. Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced that a market exists for a Star Wars‑centric racer.
“We’re sure there’s an audience for a Star Wars racing game,” he told GamesIndustry.biz. “Our community feedback – video views, article comments – suggests we’re not the only ones who think so.” He points out that entertainment genres tend to be cyclical.
After a period dominated by shooters, other categories inevitably resurface. “As more people play video games, even the tiniest niche can grow into a sizable audience,” Webster added. According to Webster, modern gamers are hungry for experiences that are both fun and novel – something they haven’t encountered before. He believes Galactic Racer delivers on that promise.
“Our vision is to create something fresh, something that feels new,” he explained. The team deliberately aimed for an arcade‑style racing feel, but they also wanted to explore the possibilities that emerge when you free yourself from the constraints of real‑world tyres and tarmac. “Imagine tracks that climb the side of an active volcano or twist like a roller‑coaster,” he said. Those over‑the‑top environments are designed to give players the instant gratification of arcade thrills while also pushing the boundaries of what a racing game can look like.
Beyond the spectacle, Galactic Racer seeks to upend long‑standing genre conventions. Traditional racing games have relied on a car‑collection model for the past two decades, a formula Webster believes has become stale. “Let’s rip that apart and borrow mechanics from other genres,” he asserted.
One of the most striking innovations is the incorporation of meaningful consequences for crashing. In many modern racers, a rewind button eliminates any penalty for a mistake, but Fuse wants to restore risk. “If you crash too often, you’re sent back to the start, though you keep some meta‑progression that makes you a bit stronger,” Webster explained.
This creates a tension where each mistake forces the player to weigh risk versus reward, especially when they’re down to their final allowed crash. The game’s structure also draws inspiration from roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire, which are built around infinite replayability.
“Racing thrives on replayability, so marrying it with roguelike loops feels like a match made in heaven,” Webster said. The idea is that each run feels fresh, with procedural elements and persistent upgrades that keep players coming back for more, while still delivering the high‑octane excitement of a Star Wars‑themed speed contest.
Webster acknowledges that launching a new IP in a crowded calendar is risky, especially with heavyweight releases like GTA 6 slated for November 19. Galactic Racer is set to drop on October 6, sandwiched between other major titles such as Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall, which both arrived on September 24. Yet he notes that the industry has weathered even busier pre‑Christmas windows in the past. “People used to call September ‘Murderer’s Row,’ and October was always packed,” he recalled.
Fuse Games therefore approaches the market with a “healthy confidence” tempered by realistic expectations. “Good games find a way,” he said, echoing a mantra he’s heard throughout his long career. When asked about the wave of layoffs sweeping the sector, Webster reflected on his own history. He remembers a similar contraction fifteen years ago and notes that great teams produce great games, which in turn attract audiences.
He argues that the current risk‑averse climate actually creates opportunities for studios willing to take calculated bets. “If you shy away from risk, you limit yourself,” he warned. However, securing funding for an independent studio in 2023 has proven challenging. “People told me I was brave for starting an indie studio now,” he laughed.
After three decades at EA, he found himself in a new reality where building a solid team, refining a creative vision, and staying disciplined are essential, even if the plan is always imperfect. Fuse Games operates with a relatively lean core team of about 75 developers—small by AAA standards.
This is intentional. Rather than expanding and contracting staff as projects demand, the studio relies heavily on external partners to fill gaps.
“We avoid the grow‑shrink‑grow cycle,” Webster explained. Instead, they use a hybrid model that blends pure outsourcing (transactional asset creation) with co‑development, where external studios become extensions of the internal team, joining stand‑ups, Slack channels, and even the codebase.
The UK’s mature game development ecosystem makes this approach feasible, as many studios now welcome collaborative work rather than viewing it as a compromise. Webster believes this hybrid model can deliver AAA‑level scope, scale and visual fidelity on a more sustainable budget.
The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer—starting in January 2023 and reaching a launch-ready state in just three and a half years—demonstrates the model’s effectiveness. "We built a studio, assembled a team, learned Unreal Engine 5 from scratch, and shipped a game that meets AAA expectations," he said proudly.
A notable aspect of Fuse’s culture is its blend of veteran expertise and fresh talent. While the studio includes several Criterion veterans, many younger developers have been brought on board, including a producer who had never worked in games before.
"The young talent we’ve hired is often smarter and more effective than I was at their age," Webster remarked. He observed that seasoned developers sometimes prefer senior colleagues who need little guidance, which can stifle growth. By nurturing younger staff, Fuse creates a dynamic where both mentors and mentees are motivated.
Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalise an internship program to further develop emerging talent, though he admits the studio is still pre‑revenue and must be cautious with resources. He cites Criterion’s successful intern initiatives as a model and stresses that investing in talent development requires a clear-eyed understanding of costs.
Reflecting on the era when the industry was flush with cash, Webster recalls how many successful developers were given funding to start their own studios, only to discover the reality was far tougher than anticipated. He criticises the industry’s lingering fascination with the myth of the “single creative visionary,” calling it “bullshit.” In his view, games are always the product of collaborative effort, not solitary genius. As for Fuse Games’ next steps, Webster says the future is still being written. The launch of Galactic Racer is just the beginning, and the studio remains open to new opportunities and ideas.
“Independent developers need to stay flexible and adaptable,” he concluded, emphasizing that the journey ahead will be shaped by both ambition and the ever‑changing landscape of the video‑game market.