Inside the Distributed Development Model Behind Star Wars: Galactic Racer

Star Wars: Galactic Racer has found solid footing since its launch, regularly seeing 18,000 concurrent players on Steam and earning a “mostly positive” reception. While fans are enjoying the ride, developers and industry observers are taking a closer look at how the game was actually made. In a recent interview with Gamesindustry.biz, Fuse Games CEO Matt Webster pulled back the curtain on the studio’s “distributed development” framework, which coordinated a massive effort involving over 1,000 professional roles while keeping a core team of roughly 75 at the helm.

The Three-Tiered Development Strategy

Webster’s model categorizes external contributions into three distinct tiers. At the outer edge are the outsourcing partners, who handle specific asset creation. While Webster acknowledged that this is often viewed as a transactional process—giving a brief and receiving an output—he emphasized that building strong relationships with these teams remains essential to achieving better results.

The second tier, external development, involves assigning entire features to outside studios. According to Webster, these partners are given specific, cross-discipline briefs—covering art, UI, and code—that allow them to build a feature like the game’s photo mode and “slot it in” using Unreal Engine.

Finally, the model utilizes co-developers. Unlike the other tiers, Webster describes co-developers as a direct extension of the Fuse Games staff. These partners integrate into the daily rhythm of the studio, attending stand-up meetings and communicating through shared channels like Slack to work as part of the primary development team.

Why it matters

For players, this development structure explains how massive, complex projects like Galactic Racer can reach the finish line in a modern gaming landscape that demands high production values and large-scale content. By effectively segmenting work, Fuse Games was able to maintain its core vision while leveraging specialized talent across the globe.

As the industry continues to search for sustainable business models, this transparency offers a glimpse into how games are built behind the scenes. While players may notice the end result in features like photo mode or high-quality assets, understanding this framework highlights the immense collaboration required to deliver titles that balance professional leadership with the work of hundreds of contributors.