Ubisoft Announces Riders Republic, Extreme Sports Game From Steep Studio

During its Ubisoft Forward stream, Ubisoft announced a new massively multiplayer extreme sports game from the studio that made Steep. It's called Riders Republic, and it releases on February 25, 2021 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Google Stadia.

The game from Ubisoft Annecy takes the downhill experience of Steep and applies it to an MMO with a wide range of sports: biking, skiing, snowboarding, wing suiting, and rocket wing suiting. A career mode has you build up your reputation across a variety of sports and win over sponsors to unlock new gear.

You'll be awarded for pulling off risky tricks in competitive races and trick challenges against other riders. It will include 6v6 PvP matches, online cups with leaderboards, and large-scale "Mass Starts" with over 50 players all trying to make it to the finish first--and without colliding with one another. In some races you'll also be switching between different vehicle types mid-race, creative director Igor Manceau told GameSpot.

For the setting, Ubisoft settled on American national parks for its variety of settings and weather and environment types. Those include Bryce Canyon, Yosemite Valley, Sequoia Park, Zion, Canyonlands, Mammoth Mountain, and Grand Teton.

The studio promises 60 FPS on next-gen consoles. Purchasing the PS4 or Xbox One version will grant you access to the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S versions, respectively. On PC, Riders Republic will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Store, apparently ruling out a Steam release, at least in the immediate future. UPlay+ subscribers will get it for free.

A Gold Edition will grant you a Year 1 pass with exotic kits and gear upgrades, while an Ultimate Edition will also give you four exclusive cosmetic parks: Cosmic, Rainbow, Neon, and Skull'n Style. Preordering any version of Riders Republic will grant you a Bunny Pack with a custom outfit and snowboard paint.