"Podracing" is one of the most famous racing sports in the Star Wars franchise. Iconic character Anakin Skywalker is a legendary racer in this sport, giving Podracing a unique cultural status among many Star Wars fans. However, few video games have focused on this sport, with the last racing game featuring it being Star Wars Episode I: Racer, released in 1999. Now, we have a new Star Wars-themed racing game: Star Wars Galactic Racer, developed by Fuse Games.
Fuse Games was founded by veterans of the racing game industry. Founder Matt Webster was formerly head of Criterion Games, leading development on many famous racing titles such as the Need for Speed and Burnout series. Matt Webster believed traditional racing games lacked innovation, so after leaving Criterion, he established Fuse Games, with Star Wars Galactic Racer being their debut title.
This game, themed around "Podracing" from Star Wars, differs significantly from traditional racing games: first, its vehicles have a unique design style, and second, it's a Roguelike game. These intriguing choices made us very curious about Fuse Games. During Tokyo Game Show 2026, we were fortunate to be invited by Fuse Games to interview Matt Webster and his team. Our main interviewees were Matt Webster and Kieran, the Creative Director of Star Wars Galactic Racer, who shared their thoughts on the project with remarkable openness.
Kieran (left), Matt Webster (right)
Below is the detailed interview content.
Q: Racing games combining Roguelike-style random levels with fast-paced racing are rare. How did you combine these two elements?
Matt Webster:We actually prefer to call it Runs-based (with single runs as the core gameplay loop) rather than Roguelike. Because while the overall structure of the planets is fixed, what's truly procedurally randomized are individual race events, obtainable parts, and rewards—all drawn from a random pool that expands as you play.
Once we figured this out, Everythinggj clicked: the Roguelike structure is inherently designed for infinite replayability, and racing games naturally reward repeated play—the more you play, the better you understand the track and your vehicle. So, these two elements fit together naturally.
Q: The game features iconic planets like Jakku and Tatooine. Besides classic racers from the Star Wars prequels, is it possible for classic characters like Rey, Boba Fett, or Kylo Ren to make cameo appearances?
Matt Webster:These characters will not appear. The game's timeline is set after Episode VI: Return of the Jedi—so characters from Rey's era haven't appeared yet. And where Boba Fett is at this moment remains uncertain.
We wanted to tell the story of "the birth of a sport in the Star Wars universe." Therefore, Sebulba, Anakin Skywalker's rival from the first film, was very important to us.
Although we also bring in characters from other Star Wars works during this same period, such as Griff Halloran, who later appears in the animated series Star Wars Resistance.
But ultimately, we're telling a story about the sport of "racing" during a specific period.
Q: How do you make each planet in the game feel distinct?
Matt Webster:Every planet in Star Wars is a character in itself. For example, Tatooine is a hot desert planet, while Ando Prime is a cold ice world, and these environments directly affect your racing.
Take the game's new acceleration mechanism, the Ramjet (Ramjet Engine): it heats up, allowing longer continuous use on cold planets; hot planets are completely different. For instance, some planets feature both rivers and lava flows—driving your Ramjet over water reduces its heating rate.
We not only want the planets to look cool, but also to genuinely influence every racing decision players make.
Q: Fuse Games was founded by individuals with extensive experience in racing games. Yet your first project wasn't a traditional racing game, but instead blended Star Wars, Roguelike mechanics, build systems, and multiplayer gameplay. What made you feel this had to be your first game?
Matt Webster:Because we love both racing and Star Wars—which sounds obvious.
But the key is, we love racing. However, the racing game genre hasn't truly evolved in many years. So we thought: since we love racing so much, let's push it forward. Therefore, even though this is a Star Wars game, we wanted to create something fresh, interesting, and exciting, because that's what we genuinely want to play. Combining these two ideas provided a great starting point.
We had previously worked on Star Wars-related games and were familiar with Lucasfilm Ltd., so when we proposed collaboration, they responded quickly.
Q: In single-player mode, players can pursue very different build paths. How do you ensure matches remain fun and balanced when everyone plays together online?
Matt Webster:After experiencing the single-player build system, you'll surely love the multiplayer mode. Multiplayer is designed as follows: there are six races total. In the first five, you bet on predicting your finishing position—such as top nine, top six, or top three. Achieving your predicted position earns you rewards.
It's essentially a build chase: you use resources gathered from the first five races to craft the strongest vehicle for the final race. We compressed the single-player's progressive run structure into a Grand Prix series. This keeps players engaged as their builds strengthen, and rewards improve the closer their results match their predictions. But Everythinggj hinges on the final race—seeing whose build is strongest at that moment is incredibly satisfying.
Q: You describe Star Wars Galactic Racer as a Runs-based Roguelike. But the core of traditional racing is mastering tracks, optimizing lines, and improving lap times, while Roguelikes emphasize randomness and unpredictability. How did you reconcile these two concepts?
Matt Webster:This is precisely why we repeatedly emphasize Runs-based rather than Roguelike. Pure Roguelikes randomize Everythinggj, whereas ours is semi-fixed: the overall tournament structure is fixed, but specific race events, drops, and rewards within it are randomized.
And when you fail, there's meta-progression as a safety net: Credits and Tuning Points are retained, allowing you to spend these resources on permanent upgrades to start your next run stronger—so every failure sends you back out with an improved state.
In our game, the tracks themselves are not randomized—they reappear, allowing you to truly "master" them: you master the vehicle's physics handling, recognizing the track and remembering those turns. Our goal is to blend track mastery with the randomness of events and build parts effectively. Every decision matters, and every action has consequences—which is why this combination works so well.
Q: The oldest Star Wars racing game, Star Wars Episode I: Racer, holds memories for many players. What inspiration did you draw from those older games? And what do you consider the best new feature in Star Wars Galactic Racer?
Matt Webster:We drew inspiration from all available sources. The track you're currently running is Mos Espa from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, originating from both the film and the previous game. And the planet Ando Prime you just tried also appeared in the earlier game.
"Racing" as a sport has always existed in the Star Wars universe. What we're doing now is further developing it into an organized, formal sport and telling a story about it—so our inspiration comes not only from locations but also from vehicles and characters.
Meanwhile, as a Star Wars game, we place special emphasis on immersion, which is why the Paddock is so important. You can walk around the Paddock as your character, seeing droids, various creatures, and interacting face-to-face with opponents. The contrast between high-intensity racing thrills and low-intensity atmospheric immersion helps players realize they are truly in the Star Wars galaxy, which is exactly what Star Wars fans desire.
Q: You mentioned that racing games needed something new, leading to the Ramjet. It differs from traditional Afterburners by having players manage the risk of overheating and even exploding. Is this emphasis on risk versus reward one of the game's core design principles?
Kieran:Risk versus reward is indeed our core principle, and the Ramjet perfectly embodies this—it puts both risk and reward directly in the player's hands.
Furthermore, as mentioned earlier: environmental conditions affect the Ramjet. With over 300 parts in the game, many interact with the Ramjet in various ways—turning potentially negative planetary environments into advantages. For example, extending the Ramjet's redline range or doubling its power output when in the red zone. Thus, even just focusing on this boost system allows for complex and deep build strategies—which excites us greatly.
Of course, we've also kept the traditional boost system, which is straightforward—just boost and recharge. Many parts specifically enhance this system, while others target different vehicle capabilities. Combining these parts like puzzle pieces to create builds suited to your preferred driving style is a highly creative aspect of the game. We place great importance on these meaningful decisions regarding upgrades and build choices.
Q: How do you tell a good story within a Roguelike structure?
Kieran:You must have a linear story backbone. When major events occur in the game—such as defeating a boss—the story must progress, and players should feel the weight of these events.
At the same time, we want to tell the player's own story. The narrative and routes experienced unfold based on player choices. Most importantly, each player's story represents a unique completion journey, with the storytelling reflecting their choices and presenting outcomes accordingly.
Beyond that, we've arranged major milestone moments—segments that players can understand and digest, which together form an authentic Star Wars canon story.
Matt Webster:Exactly. Each segment has its own beginning and end, with the Roguelike repetition and randomness occurring within that segment. Once you complete a segment, the story continues forward.
Q: You previously stated that a Star Wars racing game wouldn't be complete without Podracing. Interestingly, Podracing isn't the foundation of the entire game this time, but rather one vehicle type alongside Landspeeders, Speeder Bikes, and Skim Speeders. Why not build an entire game around the Podracing concept?
Matt Webster:Good question. In the game's prologue, Pax tells you that Podracing is the ultimate form of racing, but almost no one in the galaxy can handle it. Star Wars lore dictates that Anakin Skywalker is the only human capable of driving a Podracer because he is Force-sensitive. This is a setting constraint we had to adhere to.
What we wanted to do was promote the sport of "racing"—this is precisely the ambition of the character Pax: he wants to bring racing to the entire galaxy, so he starts with Landspeeders, which everyone can drive.
Of course, Podracing is definitely in the game, and it plays a very surprising and crucial role throughout the campaign—we won't spoil it here, leaving players to discover it for themselves later in the story.
We also know everyone loves Podracing, so you can skip the story entirely and jump straight into Arcade or Multiplayer modes to race Pods. If you only play the campaign, you'll encounter them at a highly unexpected moment.
Additionally, I must say the Pods in the game are ridiculously fast: standard Landspeeders reach speeds of around 500-600 km/h after upgrades, while Pods can hit 900 km/h, or even 1600 km/h—they are absolutely the fastest vehicles you'll ever drive, blazingly quick.
Q: Do you have plans after the game's launchAdding new content, such as new maps and vehicles?
Matt Webster:The Star Wars universe is constantly evolving, which is fantastic, and we hope to contribute to that.
We are very proud of Star Wars Galactic Racer, but after launch, we'll learn more about how people enjoy playing and what they like to experiment with. This presents an excellent opportunity for us to develop new content post-launch.
As for specific details and appearances, we will share more when officially announced.