The Fuse Games CEO on reinventing racing games, young talent beating veterans, and an overdue move away from the "bullshit" idea of a "single creative visionary"
Matt Webster looked set to be a lifer at Electronic Arts. He joined the firm way back in 1990, and spent nearly two decades working at Burnout and Need for Speed maker Criterion, which EA bought in 2004.
But in early 2023, along with Criterion alumni Steve Uphill, Pete Lake, Andrei Shires, and Alan McDairmant, he broke away to form the independent UK studio Fuse Games. Now, three and a bit years later, the studio is on the cusp of releasing its first game, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, published by the newly independent Secret Mode.
Galactic Racer is launching some 24 years after the last Star Wars racing game – 2002's Racer Revenge – and the intervening years have seen racing titles fall out of favour more generally. Amazon recently pulled out of a publishing deal with UK studio Maverick Games for its upcoming driving title Clutch, with Amazon games head Jeff Gattis saying "we didn't see a real fit in the market for that game." Criterion, meanwhile, has switched from producing racing games to working on Battlefield.
But Webster is convinced there's a market out there. biz . "We don't think we're the only ones. And I would attest from people watching our videos and reading articles that we might not be alone in that.
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