Riders Republic delay pushes Ubisoft's extreme sports game to "later this year"

A Riders Republic delay means the multiplayer extreme sports game is no longer set to arrive next month.

In a message to players, Ubisoft revealed that it now plans to release Riders Republic "later this year" to allow more time for work on the game. Riders Republic was originally set to arrive on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on February 25, 2021, and it sounds like Ubisoft isn't ready to provide a more specific release date to replace the old one yet.

Riders Republic was first announced in September as the next game from Ubisoft Annecy, whose previous project was Steep. Riders Republic very much feels like a spiritual successor to Steep, as it introduces bicycling to the snowboarding, skiing, and wingsuiting events from the previous title and lets more than 50 players gather to shred down slopes together all at once.

On top of anything-goes free-play featuring all the different supported sports, Riders Republic will also build in dedicated events for players to try with both co-op and PvP competitions - including 50-player downhill bike races with full collisions between players. Some sports games take a simulationist approach, but Ubisoft is very much going for over-the-top, don't-try-this-at-home vibes with Riders Republic. That's probably why you can dress your character in a bunny suit or attach colorful smoke bombs to your Mad Max styled safety equipment.

The Riders Republic delay follows a few months after Ubisoft also delayed Far Cry 6 and Rainbow Six Quarantine, pushing them back into its next fiscal year (sometime between April 2021 and March 2022).

See what else is on the way with our guide to new games 2021 and beyond.