adminStar Wars: Galactic Racer development took a different path from the large in-house teams often associated with AAA games. Fuse Games kept its core team below 75 for most of production, relying on external partners to add skills and capacity when needed. CEO Matt Webster says this approach helped the studio stay focused while avoiding the disruption and loss of experience that can come with repeatedly expanding and shrinking a team.
Image credit: Fuse Games/Secret Mode
Webster has welcomed the positive critical response to the PS5 version, which has a Metacritic score of 88. He also noted that it was too early to judge sales performance at the time of the interview. For the studio, one encouraging sign was that players seemed open to the game’s unusual mix of racing and roguelike progression.
Rather than treating every race as a simple contest to finish first, the game aims to make progress meaningful even when a run does not go perfectly. Its structure encourages players to learn from setbacks and return with a stronger approach. This can make a hard-earned eighth-place finish feel like worthwhile progress, not merely a disappointing result.
How Star Wars: Galactic Racer development kept the team lean
Fuse Games describes its production approach as distributed development. The studio’s central team averaged well below 75 people for much of development, while outside providers contributed work across different areas. The goal was to operate at a high level without building a very large permanent workforce.
Webster’s reasoning included both practical and human considerations. Reducing a team can affect the people involved, and a studio may also lose valuable knowledge that takes considerable time and effort to rebuild. A smaller core, supported by partners, can help preserve continuity while still allowing production capacity to grow.
Image credit: Fuse Games/Secret Mode
Fuse Games’ three-tier development model
The studio’s partner structure has three levels. Each involves a different degree of integration with the core team, so the work can be matched to the right production setup.
1. Traditional outsourcing
The most separate tier covers clearly defined deliverables, such as art assets. A brief is sent to a provider, and the completed work is returned for integration. Webster stresses that this arrangement should still be built on a strong working relationship. Clear expectations and ongoing communication can help improve the final result.
2. External development
For external development, an outside studio takes responsibility for a self-contained feature or section of work. Galactic Racer’s photo mode is one example. Since the game uses Unreal Engine, a feature with a defined scope can be developed as a distinct package and then incorporated into the wider project.
This type of assignment may need several disciplines working together, including production, art, user interface design and programming. Before handing off a feature, teams should define its boundaries and how it will connect to the main game.
3. Co-development
Co-development partners work much more closely with the core team. They take part in regular meetings and use shared communication channels and the project’s code base. In practice, they function as an extension of the studio, even though they are employed by another company.
Fuse Games’ co-development partners were based in the UK, which helped teams work in the same time zone. That mattered because close collaboration depends on frequent communication. The UK also offers studios with varied experience, team structures and cost bases.
Webster says partner selection was guided by Fuse Games’ values: a love of games, collaboration, iteration, clear and responsible conduct, and curiosity. For studios considering a similar model, his main caution is to plan for it from the beginning. Each additional partner creates more coordination and support work, so the management approach needs to be part of the studio’s production strategy.
Why a racing story fits the Star Wars universe
Fuse Games chose to tell a sports story set in Star Wars, focusing on competition, rivalries and strong personalities. Webster’s earlier work on the X-wing VR mission for Star Wars Battlefront helped shape his view of how broad the franchise can be, extending beyond its most familiar heroes and conflicts.
The Netflix series Drive to Survive was an influence on the game’s interest in what happens away from the track as well as during races. The paddock gives players a calmer space to encounter characters and engage with the setting. These lower-intensity sections also provide a contrast to fast, demanding racing, helping the overall pace feel more varied.
After release, the studio’s attention turned to supporting the game and responding to player feedback. Webster said the team had already issued four patches at the time of the interview, with audience responses helping to adjust priorities. His message for players and developers alike is that a launch is the start of ongoing work, not the finish line.
What Star Wars: Galactic Racer development shows
The game’s production illustrates how a relatively small core team can work with external providers through a carefully structured partnership model. Outsourcing, external development and co-development each serve different needs, but all require clear briefs, reliable communication and deliberate planning. For studios exploring Star Wars: Galactic Racer development as a production example, the central lesson is that distributed work is most effective when the studio is designed to support it from the outset.
