Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He started at the company in 1990 and spent nearly twenty years contributing to the Burnout and Need for Speed franchises through Criterion, which EA acquired in 2004. Yet in early 2023 Webster, together with former Criterion colleagues Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires and Alan McDairmant, decided to break away and launch their own independent studio in the United Kingdom, 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 independent 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 moment when traditional racing games have lost much of their mainstream appeal.
Amazon recently walked away from a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for the upcoming title Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis remarking that the market simply didn’t have a clear fit for another driving game. Meanwhile Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style racers, has pivoted away from the genre to focus on the Battlefield franchise. Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced there is still a hungry audience for a Star Wars racing experience.
“We clearly think there’s an audience for a Star Wars racing game,” he told GamesIndustry.biz. “We’re not the only ones who feel that way, and judging by the reaction to our videos and articles, we’re certainly not alone.” He argues that video‑game genres are cyclical. “We went through a phase where shooters seemed to dominate everything, but that’s not the only genre that can capture players’ attention. As more people play games, even the tiniest niches can find a larger audience.” According to Webster, modern gamers are looking for "fun, interesting, compelling new experiences that they haven’t seen before," and he believes Galactic Racer delivers on that promise.
The studio 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 tracks that climb the side of an active volcano, courses that feel like roller‑coasters, and other gravity‑defying set‑pieces that would be impossible in a realistic simulation. Beyond the high‑octane thrills, Galactic Racer aims to upend long‑standing conventions in the racing genre. Traditionally, racers rely on a car‑collection model that has remained largely unchanged for two decades.
Webster wants to tear that model apart and borrow mechanics from other genres. One such mechanic is meaningful consequence for mistakes.
In many modern racers a rewind button erases the impact of a crash, but Fuse wants crashes to matter. "If you crash too many times you’re sent back to the start, but you keep some meta‑progression that puts you in a stronger position," he explains. "When you’re on your last allowed crash, you start to feel the risk and the tension of every decision." The design philosophy draws heavily from roguelike principles found in games like Hades, Returnal and Slay the Spire, which emphasize infinite replayability.
"Racing thrives on replayability," Webster notes, "so marrying it with roguelike structures feels like a match made in heaven." The idea is to give players a loop where each run feels fresh, yet the overarching progression rewards persistence. Webster is also mindful of the crowded release calendar. Galactic Racer is slated for launch on October 6, a comfortable gap before the highly anticipated GTA 6 release on November 19, but still close to other major titles such as Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall, both arriving on September 24. He acknowledges the competitive environment, recalling past industry chatter about “murderers’ row” in September, yet he remains confident.
"We have a healthy sense of confidence tempered by a realistic view of how things may turn out," he says. "Good games will find a way." The conversation inevitably turns to the wave of layoffs sweeping the industry. Having lived through a similar contraction fifteen years ago, Webster observes that great teams make great games, and great games find their audience. He warns that an industry-wide aversion to risk can stifle innovation, but also creates openings for studios willing to take calculated bets.
"If you’re not willing to risk, you limit your opportunities," he says. Funding a new studio in 2023 has not been easy. Webster recounts how peers questioned his decision to go independent after three decades at EA.
"People were like, ‘you’re brave doing an independent studio in 2023,’" he laughs. His response was to fall back on principles learned at EA: assemble a talented team, crystalize a creative vision, and build a disciplined, adaptable plan.
He stresses that plans are always provisional, but they provide a framework for iteration and staying true to core values. Fuse Games operates with a relatively small core team—about 75 people—by design. Rather than expanding and contracting staff in response to project peaks, the studio relies on external partners to fill gaps.
This hybrid model blends transactional outsourcing for asset creation with deeper co‑development relationships where external studios attend daily stand‑ups, join Slack channels, and contribute directly to the codebase. Webster highlights the UK’s mature development ecosystem as a fertile ground for such collaborations, noting that today many studios are eager to work on varied projects, keeping their talent fresh and motivated.
Webster believes this approach demonstrates a sustainable path for AAA‑scale productions on tighter budgets. "You can achieve AAA scope, scale and fidelity with a smaller permanent team supplemented by trusted partners," he says, adding that the rapid three‑and‑a‑half‑year development cycle of Galactic Racer proves the model works. "We started Fuse in January 2023, and three and a half years later we have a studio, a team, and a game built on Unreal Engine 5—something none of us had mastered before. It feels like an achievement, and we did it in a healthy, sustainable way." The studio’s talent mix also leans heavily on younger developers.
One producer on Galactic Racer had never worked in games prior to joining Fuse. Webster praises this fresh perspective, claiming that younger staff often outperform senior hires in creativity and efficiency.
He argues that nurturing junior talent is more beneficial than surrounding seasoned veterans with peers who prefer minimal interaction. The studio plans to formalize an internship program, though it remains pre‑revenue and financially cautious. Reflecting on a period a few years ago when the industry was flush with capital, Webster recalls how many successful developers were handed funding to start their own studios, only to discover the challenges were greater than expected.
He criticizes the lingering myth of the "single creative visionary" as "bullshit," insisting that games are fundamentally collaborative endeavors. Looking ahead, Fuse Games does not have a fixed roadmap. The launch of Galactic Racer is just the first step, and the studio remains open to exploring new opportunities while staying flexible.
"For an independent developer these days, you have to be adaptable," Webster concludes. "We have ideas about where we want to go, but we’ll let the market and our own growth dictate the next moves."