Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to stay within the walls of Electronic Arts. He started at EA in 1990 and spent almost twenty years developing titles for the Criterion studio—known for the Burnout and Need for Speed series—until EA acquired Criterion in 2004. In early 2023, however, Webster, together with fellow Criterion alumni Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires, and Alan McDairmant, decided to strike out on their own and launch the independent UK studio Fuse Games.
Just over three years later, the fledgling studio is poised to ship its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, which will be published by the newly autonomous label Secret Mode. Galactic Racer arrives roughly 24 years after the last Star Wars racing experience, 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 moves illustrate this trend: Amazon withdrew from a publishing agreement with Maverick Games for the upcoming driving game Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis remarking that the title didn’t fit the market. Meanwhile, Criterion itself has pivoted away from pure racing projects to focus on the Battlefield franchise.
Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced there is a viable audience for a Star Wars‑themed racer. “We clearly see demand for a Star Wars racing game,” he told GamesIndustry.biz. “Our community feedback—people watching our videos and reading our articles—suggests we’re not the only ones who think so.” He points out that video‑game genres tend to be cyclical.
After a period dominated by shooters, other genres inevitably resurface. “As more people play video games, even the tiniest niche can find a larger audience,” he added. Webster believes players are hungry for fresh, compelling experiences that they haven’t encountered before, and he feels Galactic Racer delivers on that promise.
The studio set out to capture the instant gratification of classic arcade racers while also exploring what becomes possible when developers are no longer constrained by realistic tyres and tarmac. “We have tracks that climb the side of an active volcano,” he explained. “Sometimes it feels like a roller‑coaster.” Beyond the high‑octane thrills, Galactic Racer seeks to upend long‑standing conventions of the racing genre. Traditionally, racing games revolve around a car‑collection model that has remained largely unchanged for two decades.
Webster wants to dismantle that formula and borrow mechanics from other genres. One of the most striking innovations is the emphasis on consequential decision‑making, particularly around crashing.
In many modern racers, a rewind button eliminates risk, but Fuse wants crashes to matter. “If you crash too often, you’re sent back to the start, though you retain some meta‑progression that puts you in a stronger position,” he said. “When you’re on your last allowed crash, the tension is real—you start weighing the risk of each maneuver.” The game’s design draws inspiration from roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal, and Slay the Spire—games built for infinite replayability.
“Racing thrives on replayability, so marrying it with roguelike principles feels like a perfect match,” Webster noted. This hybrid approach aims to give players a sense of permanence to their choices while still encouraging repeated runs. Releasing in a crowded calendar, Galactic Racer is slated for October 6, a comfortable gap before the highly anticipated GTA 6 launch on November 19, yet close enough to ride the wave of other major releases like Control Resonant and Silent Hill: Townfall on September 24.
Webster acknowledges the competitive landscape but remains confident. “We’ve seen even busier pre‑Christmas schedules in the past. October has always been a busy month—‘Murderer’s Row’ as they called it. We have a healthy confidence tempered by a realistic view of how things might turn out,” he said.
The conversation inevitably turned to the wave of industry layoffs. Having weathered previous cycles, Webster reflected that great teams make great games, and great games find audiences. He warned that the current climate shows a pronounced aversion to risk, which can limit opportunities for bold projects.
“If you’re unwilling to take calculated risks, you’ll miss out on the chance to push the medium forward,” he argued. Starting a new studio in 2023 has not been easy. Funding was scarce, and many questioned the wisdom of launching an independent studio in a turbulent market.
Webster recalled his 32‑year tenure at EA as a bubble, and he emphasized the importance of core principles: building a strong team, refining a clear creative vision, and maintaining disciplined planning while staying adaptable. “The plan is always wrong, but it’s the best version you have today.
Review, adapt, and stay true to your values—that’s how you build a motivated team that can achieve great things,” he explained. Fuse Games operates with a relatively small core staff—about 75 people—by design. Rather than expanding and contracting the team repeatedly, the studio relies on external development partners to fill gaps. This hybrid model blends transactional outsourcing for asset creation with deeper co‑development relationships where external studios participate in daily stand‑ups, Slack channels, and even share codebases.
Webster highlighted the UK’s mature development ecosystem as a fertile ground for such collaborations, noting that today’s studios are eager to work across projects and maintain fresh, motivated talent pools. According to Webster, this approach enables a AAA‑scale game to be built on a sustainable budget. The rapid development timeline—Fuse was founded in January 2023, and three and a half years later the team has delivered a full‑featured game on Unreal Engine 5, a tool none of them originally mastered—demonstrates the viability of the model.
Another noteworthy aspect of Fuse’s strategy is its emphasis on youthful talent. Alongside the Criterion veterans, the studio has recruited many younger developers, even hiring a producer with no prior game‑industry experience. “Our young talent is often smarter and more effective than we were at their age,” Webster said.
“We’ve seen greater success with them than with some senior hires. Senior developers may prefer to work with peers who need little guidance, but nurturing younger staff engages and motivates the whole team.” He hopes to formalize an internship program in the future, though he admits the studio is still pre‑revenue and must be realistic about the costs of talent development.
Reflecting on the industry’s past boom years, Webster recalled a time when successful game teams received abundant funding to start their own studios, only to discover the challenges were far greater than anticipated. He criticized the lingering myth of the singular creative visionary, calling it “bullshit.” In his view, games are always collaborative endeavors, and success should be attributed to great teams rather than one‑person legends. Looking ahead, Fuse Games remains flexible. While the launch of Galactic Racer marks a major milestone, the studio is already contemplating its next steps.
“The launch is just the beginning,” Webster said. “We’ll be talking to partners about future opportunities, and we have ideas for where we want to go. As an independent developer, you have to stay adaptable.”