Riders Republic Turns Five With Henri PFR, Ubisoft Crossovers and a Week-Long Celebration

Five years after opening its enormous mountain playground, Riders Republic is throwing the sort of birthday party that only makes sense in the Republic: Belgian DJ and producer Henri PFR is taking over the in-game stage, Ubisoft franchises are invading the seasonal reward track, a special anniversary event is on the way and the entire game is opening its doors for a Free Weekend. The celebrations begin on October 21, with Ubisoft using Season 20 to look back at how far its multiplayer extreme-sports sandbox has travelled since 2021 while simultaneously showing that it has no intention of slowing down.

The anniversary arrives at a significant moment. Riders Republic has now reached 17 million lifetime players, Season 20 has introduced Scooters as its latest playable Toy and the game has gradually expanded far beyond the original combination of bikes, skis, snowboards and aerial sports. BMX, skateboarding, mountainboards, longboards and an increasingly strange catalogue of Toys have transformed the Republic into something closer to a persistent action-sports festival than the launch game Ubisoft Annecy originally released. The fifth anniversary is therefore less about nostalgia for one version of Riders Republic and more about celebrating a platform that has been continually rebuilt around whatever its community wants to ride next.

Henri PFR is bringing the anniversary party to The Republic

The biggest new reveal from Ubisoft's anniversary teaser is Henri PFR, the Belgian DJ, producer and composer who will headline the musical side of the celebration. PFR began releasing music while still in his teens and went on to work with labels including Armada, Warner, Spinnin' and Sony, eventually entering DJ Mag's Top 100 DJs and building an international touring career around melodic electronic music.

That upbeat electronic style fits Riders Republic particularly well. Ubisoft Annecy has always presented the game less like a traditional sports simulation and more like an oversized festival where players happen to be racing downhill at dangerous speeds. Riders Ridge and later The Deck have functioned as social spaces filled with music, other players and seasonal decorations, so turning one of those spaces into a concert venue feels like a natural extension of the game's existing atmosphere rather than a completely separate promotional activation.

Ubisoft will first bring Henri PFR into the 5th Anniversary livestream on October 20, where the publisher is promising announcements, surprise guests and more details about the celebration. The in-game performance then follows during the anniversary period, with Ubisoft's current social announcement placing the Henri PFR experience between October 22 and November 4. The teaser's October 21 date therefore marks the beginning of the wider anniversary festivities rather than necessarily the first performance of the concert itself.

Myd proved that a Riders Republic concert can be more than background music

Henri PFR is not actually the first artist Ubisoft has put on a virtual Riders Republic stage. That experiment began at the end of 2025 with French producer Myd, whose collaboration became the game's first dedicated in-game music event.

Myd's concerts transformed The Deck into a performance space, with scheduled shows repeating throughout the event and players receiving exclusive rewards for participating. Three of his tracks were incorporated into the experience, including a special Riders Republic remix of “Make Me Feel Alive,” while the collaboration also produced a limited T-shirt and a custom DJ Bike.

That event effectively served as a prototype for what Ubisoft can now attempt with Henri PFR. Riders Republic already has the social hubs, player density, character customization and movement systems needed to make a virtual concert feel interactive. Players do not have to stand perfectly still and watch a digital musician perform; they can arrive on bicycles, skateboards or whatever ridiculous Toy they happen to have equipped, turn the surrounding area into an improvised trick park and treat the concert as another multiplayer gathering.

For the fifth anniversary, that concept has considerably more significance. Myd helped launch the game's fifth year. Henri PFR is helping celebrate the moment that fifth year becomes an actual birthday.

Ubisoft is raiding its own catalogue for anniversary rewards

The celebration also turns Season 20's progression into a tour through Ubisoft history. Brawlhalla, For Honor, Skull and Bones, The Crew Motorfest, Just Dance and Rayman are all represented through anniversary rewards, creating one of Riders Republic's most overt internal Ubisoft crossover events.

Several of those rewards are attached directly to sports equipment. Brawlhalla, For Honor, Skull and Bones and The Crew Motorfest receive themed snowboards, while Rayman gets a BMX and Just Dance contributes its instantly recognisable Panda as an outfit. Ubisoft has already experimented with references to its wider catalogue inside Riders Republic, but concentrating multiple franchises into the same anniversary progression makes the celebration feel deliberately publisher-wide.

Rayman is perhaps the most fitting inclusion. Riders Republic has never been particularly concerned with realism when it comes to player appearance, and the franchise's cartoon identity sits comfortably beside giant animal costumes, mascot heads and the game's other intentionally absurd cosmetics. The Crew Motorfest is an equally natural partner from a different direction: both games are large Ubisoft open worlds built around vehicle culture, social play and an emphasis on collecting new ways to move through their environments.

The important part is that these are not being positioned exclusively as premium-store collaborations. Ubisoft has confirmed that anniversary-themed items are included in Season 20 progression, giving players a reason to keep working through the seasonal track throughout the celebration.

The party arrives alongside the game’s newest sport

The fifth anniversary is only one half of Season 20. Riders Republic began its autumn season on October 7 by introducing Scooters, developed with professional riders Timon Pharabod and Jonathan Perroni. Ubisoft worked with real scooter brands Ethic and Envy on the new discipline, while its Full Send model provides a third visual option.

The Scooter comes with an extensive trick list and 11 adapted Classic Events, using existing Skate and BMX courses to provide a full progression path without building an entirely separate region of the map. A developer-made User Generated Event also launched alongside it, with high-performing riders able to chase a Golden Scooter reward through the leaderboard.

It is an appropriate sport to arrive during the anniversary because it demonstrates how dramatically the concept of Riders Republic has expanded. At launch, the game's identity revolved around mountain biking, snow sports, wingsuits and rocket wingsuits. BMX was already promised through the first year's roadmap, but skateboarding did not arrive until Season 8 in 2023. Since then, Ubisoft Annecy has steadily turned almost any action-sports equipment it can translate into the game's physics into another reason to revisit familiar terrain.

Scooters continue that philosophy. They do not require a new map to justify themselves because the Republic has become a shared playground where every new piece of equipment changes what existing parks, rails and lines can be used for.

Seventeen million players is the bigger anniversary number

Ubisoft is celebrating five years, but 17 million lifetime players may be the milestone that says more about the game's longevity. Riders Republic did not launch as a free-to-play title, and while subscriptions, free periods and expanded platform availability have lowered the barrier to entry over time, reaching that number reflects years of continued support rather than one enormous launch window.

The game released on October 28, 2021 as a cross-generation multiplayer sports playground spanning locations inspired by American national parks including Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, Sequoia, Zion, Canyonlands, Mammoth Mountain and Grand Teton. Its original pitch emphasised huge Mass Races, multiple sports careers and the possibility of transitioning rapidly between radically different equipment while exploring one continuous map.

Five years later, much of that original structure remains intact, but the content surrounding it is dramatically larger. BMX and Skate became full sports expansions, new Toys repeatedly changed traversal, seasonal progression evolved, User Generated Events gave players more control over activities and new brands continuously entered the cosmetic and equipment ecosystem.

The Republic has effectively become the long-term action-sports hub Ubisoft hoped it could be rather than a sequel-driven franchise that resets its progression every few years.

The Free Weekend is timed to bring old and new riders into the same party

Ubisoft is also making the anniversary an acquisition event. Riders Republic will be free to play from October 22 through October 26, allowing newcomers to enter during the busiest part of the celebration and retain their progress if they subsequently purchase the game.

That timing is particularly effective because the Free Weekend overlaps with the Henri PFR concert period and the broader anniversary activities. New players therefore will not encounter an empty launch-era version of Riders Republic or a generic trial playlist; they will enter during a week designed specifically to make the world feel crowded and active.

It also recalls how Ubisoft originally introduced many players to the game. Before Riders Republic officially launched on October 28, 2021, the publisher ran Trial Week from October 21 through October 27, allowing players to experience four hours of the game and carry their progress into launch. Five years later, the anniversary celebrations beginning on October 21 create a neat echo of the week in which the public first gained broad access to the Republic.

The exact fifth birthday technically arrives on October 28. Ubisoft is simply starting the party early.

Season 20 is also looking back at the brands that helped build the Republic

The anniversary celebrations sit inside a season already filled with new real-world partnerships. Spyder and Element have new outfits available through the in-game shop, while Ethic and Envy accompany the Scooter launch and Fasthouse receives another collaboration later in the season.

Those partnerships have always been central to Riders Republic's presentation. Real sports brands help anchor a world where the actual gameplay routinely abandons realism, allowing players to wear recognisable equipment while performing lines that would probably end a real athlete's career immediately.

Season 20 closes that circle particularly well. Ubisoft-themed anniversary cosmetics celebrate the fictional worlds surrounding Riders Republic, while brands like Ethic, Envy, Spyder and Element reinforce the real action-sports culture underneath it. The Republic has always existed somewhere between those two extremes.

The Full Send Finale will close a year built around Toys

Ubisoft is also planning a Full Send Finale during the final two weeks of Season 20. The event will use another developer-created UGE to showcase the equipment added throughout the previous year, sending players down the game's X Games ramp with Toys from the Ridge Full Send collection.

That gives the season a retrospective beyond simply distributing anniversary cosmetics. Rather than asking players to remember older additions through a menu, the finale puts those additions back into active competition and encourages everyone to revisit the different movement systems that defined the game's fifth year.

It fits a broader trend in Riders Republic's recent development. Ubisoft Annecy has increasingly used UGE tools not only for community creativity but also for official curated challenges, allowing the developers to construct unusual activities without permanently adding another conventional event chain to the world.

For a game celebrating five years of accumulation, a finale based around throwing all of that equipment back onto one enormous ramp is appropriately unsubtle.

The anniversary livestream may still have surprises left

Ubisoft has deliberately not revealed everything ahead of time. The 5th Anniversary livestream takes place October 20 at 6 PM CET / 9 AM PT on Ubisoft's Twitch channel, with the publisher promising announcements, reveals, special guests and additional information about the celebrations.

That means the Henri PFR teaser is still only a preview. Exact details of the anniversary event itself, the complete Twitch Drop lineup and any surprises reserved for the broadcast remain to be confirmed. Ubisoft's Season 20 announcement explicitly held information back for the livestream, so players should be cautious about treating speculation around additional content as established fact before the presentation airs.

What is already confirmed is substantial enough: the concert, Ubisoft crossover progression, Free Weekend, anniversary activities and 17-million-player celebration will all unfold while Season 20 continues expanding the game with Scooters and new collaborations.

Five years later, Riders Republic still feels like a place rather than a playlist

That may ultimately be the reason an in-game concert works here. Riders Republic was designed from the beginning around the idea of a shared physical space. Riders Ridge was not merely a matchmaking menu presented in 3D; players could gather there, see one another, practice tricks and move directly back into the surrounding world.

The Deck and the game's later social additions have pushed that idea further. Seasonal decorations, branded takeovers, concerts and community events can change the atmosphere of the Republic without requiring an entirely new game mode every time. Henri PFR does not need to be integrated into a race career to matter. His presence changes what players find when they log in and gives thousands of riders a reason to meet in the same part of the world.

That is a different kind of longevity from simply adding another leaderboard.

Five years ago, Ubisoft Annecy built an enormous playground and hoped enough players would keep showing up to make it feel alive.

Seventeen million riders later, the anniversary plan is essentially to turn the music up.

The fifth anniversary celebrations begin October 21

Riders Republic's fifth anniversary celebrations begin October 21, 2026, following Ubisoft's anniversary livestream on October 20. Henri PFR will headline the musical festivities, with Ubisoft currently advertising his in-game appearance from October 22 through November 4. Season 20 progression includes crossover rewards inspired by Brawlhalla, For Honor, Skull and Bones, The Crew Motorfest, Just Dance and Rayman, while the Free Weekend runs October 22–26 with progression carrying into the full game for players who decide to stay.

All of that arrives alongside Season 20's new Scooter, current brand collaborations and the eventual Full Send Finale, while Ubisoft celebrates the game surpassing 17 million players since its October 28, 2021 launch.

Riders Republic started as a mountain full of people doing stupidly dangerous things on bikes and snowboards.

Five years later, there are considerably more ways to do them — and now there is a DJ playing while everybody tries.