Riders Republic Interview with Thomas Geffroyd

Ubisoft’s Riders Republic managed to fulfill my extreme sports needs. With a big map, tons of stunts to do, and a loud personality oozing out of the game, Riders Republic is one of the few extreme sports games currently in the market with a lot to offer.

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While many aspects of the game are great, which we talked about extensively in our review, I, and possibly a lot of other people, might be curious about the behind-the-scenes work which went into making an extreme sports game like this. In my quest to get my queries answered and satiate my curiosity, I got in touch with Thomas Geffroyd, Content Director for Riders Republic, with my questions.

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Thomas Geffroyd, Content Director of Riders Republic on making an extreme sports game

Thomas Greyfford, Content Director of Riders Republic (Image via Ubisoft)

1) Thank you for this interview. I would like to start off by talking about the game as a whole. How did the inspiration for Riders Republic come up? Did previous Ubisoft titles like Steep and Trials series play some part in shaping the game up?

Thomas: Riders Republic has been developed by the Ubisoft Annecy studio, creators of Steep. While we are still extremely proud of this realization, we wanted to do a lot more and offer a different experience to players. We used our experience on Steep to create this new title, leveraging new technologies and a much broader scope.

2) I have been playing the game a lot, and the variety and fluidity in doing stunts feels absolutely brilliant. What amount of research went into deciding what sports are currently offered in the game? Were any real-world extreme sports personalities consulted while deciding on stunts and sports for the game?

Thomas: A lot of research and sessions with professionals went into the creation of Riders Republic. But equally, this is a project from a team that lives the extreme sports life. The Annecy studio is in the middle of the French Alps and many developers here do practice the sports we’re tackling in the game. So, it’s really a project from the heart for us. This combined knowledge of consultants and at-home experience shaped the game and the sports you can enjoy in the Republic.

3) Even though the game is going for a more arcade-style approach, it still needs some amount of precise inputs and skills to pull off the stunts flawlessly. With accessibility in videogames being a very talked-about topic, and Riders Republic already having quite some of them, how was the game balanced so that it suited everyone’s playstyle? Is the team planning to add more accessibility options down the line?

Thomas: Easy to learn, hard to master is really what we aimed for so that the game remains accessible and fun for those that only want to have a good time with friends but can go pretty intense when chasing high scores or competing. We are offering three different control layouts and various “auto modes” so that players can really shape the experience they want to have with us. What makes controls a real challenge for us is that we need to have coherent continuity in controls when swapping sports on the fly, and we’re pretty happy about the result so far. But yes, down the line, tweaking the controls for both accessibility and comfort will be worked on.

To learn more about the accessibility options available in Riders Republic, check here.

4) The world of Riders Republic is absolutely massive, breathtaking and a virtual playground for all sorts of crazy stunts waiting to happen. As for the location, what was the key decision in deciding on the U.S. for the backdrop of the map? Are there any future plans for players to explore other locations and do crazy stunts there?

Thomas: The U.S. National Parks are absolutely amazing in their diversity and beauty. We spent a lot of time analyzing them to find the right balance between diversity/beauty and usability for our gameplay. We also scouted them to make sure we would get all the details needed to replicate as much as possible [of] what they really are.

Riders Republic features a map with various varieties in its biome (Image via Ubisoft)

While we smashed them together to create this massive playground, we made sure to keep the real landmarks so that players that really know those places feel at home, and others might want to go see for themselves. Regarding the future, we have an immense playground that we can work with, offering a lot of opportunities to create amazing content. We’ll live off the land for now but who knows what the future holds.

5) Crossplay, or cross-platform play, has become a necessity in the current video game market. Being a passionate fighting game player myself, I know the importance of crossplay and how it helps to make an online game thrive. Riders Republic features crossplay between all the major current-generation platforms, and given how challenging it can be to implement, how was the experience for the team in working on the system?

Thomas: The team worked really hard on crossplay and we’re thrilled about this achievement. Riders Republic's DNA is about being a social playground accessible to everyone, so it made a lot of sense to challenge ourselves to allow ALL players to play together. But as you say, it comes with a lot of challenges that we’re willing to tackle so that all players on every gaming ecosystem can ride together.

6) One thing which has always been in everyone's mind ever since the reveal of the game, and even while playing the game, is its online environment. Given how Riders Republic is an online-first experience, how did the team make sure it was content-rich so that the single-player audience did not feel alienated?

Thomas: To us, social presence was the key. Making sure that at any time, players “feel” the community and the life around them. It was a guiding principle to make sure you never feel alone but can have fun by yourself. This led us to creating this “ghost” technology where we record real-life players’ actions and play them back when in a session.

Play together with friends or random people and duke it out in variety of ways (Image via Ubisoft)

This powerful technology allows us to focus on the real thing, the player’s actions, and not rely on AI to mimic real people. But it also allows us to have this real-time map where you can see all riders in the world and go from high view to an “ant farm” level showcasing our players and making sure you never feel alone in this wild outdoor world.

7) To wrap it up, what is next for Riders Republic? How is this vibrant, personality-rich, extreme sports game going to evolve as time goes on?

Thomas: We are committed and actively working to bringing more content to the Republic in the year to come. We’re bringing a new team competitive mode (Showdown) and will introduce a new sport and playgrounds with the BMX. Apart from that, we are pushing a lot of new gear, weekly challenges, new mass races, and funky/crazy vehicles for our players to have fun with. “Long live the Republic” is our goal and we hope to shape our game with the players so that Riders Republic becomes theirs.

Riders Republic is an extreme sports video game developed by Ubisoft Annecy and published by Ubisoft. The game is out now on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC via Ubisoft Connect and Epic Games Store.