Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He started at EA in 1990 and spent nearly twenty years contributing to the Burnout and Need for Speed franchises through Criterion, the studio EA acquired 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 founded the independent UK studio Fuse Games.
Three and a half years later the fledgling company is poised to launch its debut title, *Star Wars: Galactic Racer*, under the banner of the newly independent publisher Secret Mode. The timing of the release is noteworthy. The last Star Wars‑themed racing game, *Racer Revenge*, hit shelves in 2002, meaning more than two decades have passed without a new entry in the niche.
In that interval, traditional racing games have struggled to maintain mainstream relevance. Amazon recently walked away from a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for its upcoming title *Clutch*, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis remarking that the market simply didn’t have room for another conventional racer. Meanwhile Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style racing, has shifted its focus to the *Battlefield* franchise, further underscoring the genre’s waning commercial pull. Despite these trends, Webster remains convinced that a demand exists for a Star Wars racing experience.
“We clearly see an audience for a Star Wars‑themed racer,” he told GamesIndustry.biz. “Our community feedback—videos, articles, forum discussions—suggests we’re not the only ones who think there’s appetite for it.” He points out that gaming genres tend to be cyclical. After a period dominated by shooters, other categories inevitably resurface as players seek fresh, compelling experiences. As the overall player base expands, even the smallest sub‑genres can attract a sizable following.
Webster describes *Galactic Racer* as an attempt to deliver something both familiar and novel. The team wanted to capture the instant gratification of classic arcade racers while also exploring possibilities that go beyond the constraints of real‑world physics. “We’re not limited by tyres and tarmac,” he explains. “One of our tracks climbs the side of an active volcano; it feels like a roller‑coaster at times.” Beyond the high‑octane thrills, the game deliberately subverts long‑standing racing conventions.
Traditional racers rely on a car‑collection model that has changed little in the past twenty years. Fuse Games decided to discard that formula and borrow mechanics from other genres.
The most striking example is the incorporation of consequential decision‑making, a feature often diluted in modern racers by the presence of a rewind button. In *Galactic Racer*, crashes carry weight: too many failures send the player back to the start, though a portion of meta‑progression is retained, allowing a more powerful re‑entry.
This risk‑reward loop forces players to weigh the danger of aggressive driving against the potential loss of progress. The design philosophy draws heavily from roguelike titles such as *Hades*, *Returnal*, and *Slay the Spire*.
Those games are built around infinite replayability, a trait that meshes naturally with racing’s competitive, repeat‑play nature. By marrying procedural or persistent progression with high‑speed competition, Fuse hopes to create a “match made in heaven” that encourages players to return session after session. Launching the game on October 6 places it in a crowded release window that includes heavyweight titles like *Control: Resonance* and *Silent Hill: Townfall* (both September 24) and the highly anticipated *Grand Theft Auto VI* slated for November 19. Webster acknowledges the density of the calendar but notes that the industry has long endured busy pre‑holiday seasons.
“People used to call September ‘Murderer’s Row,’” he recalls, “and October was always packed. We’re confident but realistic about how we’ll perform.” The conversation shifts to the broader industry climate, particularly the wave of layoffs that has swept through major studios. Webster, a veteran with over three decades of experience, reflects on past cycles of downsizing.
“Great teams make great games, and great games find an audience,” he says. He argues that the current risk‑averse environment creates opportunities for studios willing to take calculated bets. “When everyone plays it safe, there’s room for innovators who push boundaries,” he adds.
Funding, however, remains a significant hurdle for independent developers. Webster recounts the skepticism he faced when announcing Fuse Games in 2023: “People told me I was brave to start an indie studio now.” After thirty‑two years at EA, he was stepping into unfamiliar territory. His answer was to lean on core principles—building a skilled team, refining a clear creative vision, and maintaining disciplined planning while staying adaptable.
“A plan is always wrong, but it’s the best version you have today,” he says, emphasizing the importance of iteration and staying true to values. Fuse Games operates with a relatively lean core staff of about 75 people, a deliberate choice to avoid the boom‑and‑bust staffing cycles that plague many AAA projects. Instead of scaling up and down internally, the studio leverages external partners for additional capacity. This hybrid model blends transactional outsourcing (pure asset creation) with co‑development relationships where external studios become extensions of the internal team, participating in daily stand‑ups, Slack channels, and even sharing the codebase.
Webster highlights the UK’s mature development ecosystem as a fertile ground for such collaborations. In the past, external studios often helped out of necessity and kept their own ambitions separate. Today, many firms actively seek varied projects with different partners, keeping their talent engaged and motivated. “You can deliver a AAA‑scale game with a sustainable budget by combining a small permanent core with trusted external teams,” he asserts.
The speed of *Galactic Racer*’s development showcases the effectiveness of this approach. Fuse was founded in January 2023; just three and a half years later the team has built a studio, assembled a team, and delivered a game using Unreal Engine 5—technology none of them had previously mastered.
“It feels like an achievement, and we did it in a healthy, sustainable way,” Webster says. A notable aspect of Fuse’s workforce is the infusion of younger talent alongside seasoned veterans.
One of the producers on *Galactic Racer* had never worked in games before joining the project. “Our young developers are often smarter and more effective than we were at their age,” Webster observes. He believes nurturing junior staff not only accelerates innovation but also creates a more dynamic work environment.
While senior developers may prefer to work independently with minimal interaction, Webster argues that mentorship and collaboration benefit both parties. Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalize an internship program to cultivate fresh talent, though he admits the studio is still pre‑revenue. He cites Criterion’s successful intern pipeline as a model and acknowledges the costs associated with developing new talent, but remains optimistic about the long‑term payoff.
Reflecting on a period five or six years ago when the industry enjoyed abundant funding, Webster notes that many successful games spawned spin‑off studios led by “superstar” creators. In hindsight, he believes the money would have been better allocated to strong, cohesive teams rather than individual visionaries. “The fixation on a singular creative genius is nonsense,” he says. “Games are collaborative endeavors.” As for Fuse’s next steps, Webster admits the future is still being written.
The launch of *Star Wars: 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 concludes. "We have a vision, we have a model that works, and we’ll see where the next chapter takes us."