Matt Webster’s career once seemed destined to remain within the walls of Electronic Arts. He started at the company in 1990 and spent nearly twenty years contributing to the iconic Burnout and Need for Speed franchises while they were under the umbrella of Criterion, a studio EA acquired in 2004. In early 2023, however, Webster, alongside fellow Criterion alumni Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires, and Alan McDairmant, decided to leave the corporate behemoth and launch an independent studio in the United Kingdom called Fuse Games.
Three and a half years later the fledgling studio is preparing to ship its debut title, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, which will be published by the newly independent label Secret Mode. Galactic Racer arrives roughly 24 years after the last Star Wars‑themed racing game—2002’s Racer Revenge—at a moment when the broader racing genre has struggled to retain mainstream appeal. Recent industry headlines illustrate this shift: Amazon cancelled a publishing agreement with UK studio Maverick Games for its upcoming driving game Clutch, with Amazon Games head Jeff Gattis remarking that the title didn’t fit the market.
Meanwhile, Criterion, once a powerhouse of arcade‑style racers, has pivoted toward the Battlefield franchise, signalling a strategic retreat from pure racing projects. Despite these signals, Webster remains convinced there is still a hungry audience for a Star Wars racing experience. “We clearly believe there’s an audience for a Star Wars racing game,” he told GamesIndustry.biz.
“We’re not the only ones thinking that, and the response we get from our videos and articles suggests we’re not alone.” He points out that gaming trends are cyclical. After a period dominated by shooters, other genres inevitably resurface as player tastes evolve.
“The more people who play video games, the larger the audience becomes for even the tiniest niches,” Webster explained. Webster argues that modern gamers are craving fresh, compelling experiences that feel novel.
He sees Galactic Racer as a vehicle for delivering exactly that. The team’s vision is to blend the instant gratification of classic arcade racers with imaginative, physics‑defying track design made possible by moving away from the constraints of real‑world tyres and tarmac. “We have tracks that climb the side of an active volcano,” he said.
“Sometimes it feels like a roller‑coaster.” Beyond high‑octane thrills, the game deliberately subverts long‑standing racing conventions. Traditional racers have relied on a car‑collection model for the past two decades—a formula Webster wants to dismantle. He draws inspiration from roguelike titles such as Hades, Returnal, and Slay the Spire, which prioritize infinite replayability and meaningful choice. Galactic Racer incorporates consequential decision‑making, particularly around crashes.
In many contemporary racers, a rewind mechanic nullifies penalties, 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,” Webster explained. “When you’re on your last life, you start to feel the weight of each risk.” This design philosophy marks a bold departure from the hand‑holding typical of many AAA releases, especially as the industry prepares for heavyweight launches like GTA 6.
Galactic Racer is slated for an October 6 release, comfortably spaced from GTA 6’s November 19 launch yet close enough to other major titles such as Control: Resonance and Silent Hill: Townfall, which debuted on September 24. Webster acknowledges the crowded calendar but remains confident.
“We’ve seen busier pre‑Christmas schedules before,” he said. “October has always been a ‘murderer’s row’ of releases, and we have a healthy sense of confidence tempered by realism.” Reflecting on the wave of layoffs that has swept the industry, Webster notes that great teams produce great games, and great games find their audience. He observes a growing aversion to risk among publishers, which he believes creates opportunities for studios willing to take calculated bets.
“If you’re not willing to push boundaries, you limit yourself,” he warned. Starting an independent studio in 2023 has not been without challenges.
Securing funding proved difficult, with many questioning the wisdom of launching a new studio in a volatile market. Webster draws on his 32‑year tenure at EA to outline a guiding principle: assemble a talented team, refine a clear creative vision, and maintain disciplined planning—while accepting that plans will evolve.
“Engaged, motivated talent produces great work,” he said, emphasizing the importance of nurturing staff rather than merely managing them. Fuse Games operates with a relatively lean core—about 75 people—by design. Rather than expanding and contracting staff in response to project phases, the studio relies heavily on external partners for supplemental development work.
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 especially conducive to such collaborations, noting a cultural shift from reluctant assistance to enthusiastic partnership. Webster believes this approach demonstrates that a AAA‑scale game can be built sustainably with a small permanent team augmented by trusted external contributors.
The rapid development timeline of Galactic Racer—just three and a half years from Fuse’s inception to a near‑complete product built on Unreal Engine 5—serves as proof of concept. A notable aspect of Fuse’s roster is the infusion of younger developers. Some team members, including one producer, had never worked in games before joining the project. “Our young talent is often smarter and more effective than I was at that age,” Webster remarked.
He argues that seasoned veterans sometimes prefer senior colleagues who need minimal interaction, which can stifle growth. By contrast, fostering and mentoring junior staff energizes both the newcomers and the experienced mentors.
Looking ahead, Webster hopes to formalize an internship program to further cultivate fresh talent, though he admits the studio is still pre‑revenue. He cites Criterion’s successful intern pipelines as a model and stresses the need for realistic expectations about the costs involved in talent development.
When he reflects on the boom years of five or six years ago—when well‑funded studios sprouted from successful titles—Webster observes that many of those spin‑offs struggled because they underestimated the difficulty of building a sustainable operation. He criticizes the industry’s lingering fixation on a singular “creative visionary,” calling it “bullshit.” In his view, games are always collaborative endeavors, not the product of lone geniuses. As for Fuse’s future, Webster says plans are still fluid. The launch of Galactic Racer is just the beginning, and the studio remains open to exploring new opportunities.
“Independent developers need to stay flexible and adaptable,” he concluded, underscoring the importance of resilience in an ever‑changing market.