A game about horse girls – girls that are horses, not girls who ride horses – has become one of this year’s more unusual hits.
Since it launched in 2021, Umamusume: Pretty Derby has been wildly successful in Japan – Appmagic estimates it has earned its developer Cygames nearly $1.9bn since its release in 2021. But this June, it was localised and released in the west, and also launched on Steam, which helped word spread further.
It’s part visual novel, part sports management simulator: think Football Manager, but with horse girls. The premise is the same – instead of building out a football club, you’re training a girl who is also a racehorse.
What’s most fascinating is how much this cult Japanese game is now resonating with western players. In July, Appmagic data suggests developer Cygames earned around $14.8m from the game in Japan, but the US was a close second with just over $13.7m. In fact, western, English-speaking players outspent their Japanese counterparts on the game if you add the earnings from other top markets like Canada, Australia and the UK.
On Steam, Umamusume: Pretty Derby hovers between 25,000 to 40,000 concurrent players at any given time, with a peak of over 87,000 in July. These huge numbers are quite a feat for a game that has not enjoyed a particularly gigantic marketing push. Instead, its success has been attributed to virality on TikTok and other social media platforms. It also has good traction on Twitch.
What makes this game sticky and unique is its mix of genres, gacha-dependent mechanics and the way its runs build on each other. Once players complete the career mode of a singular horse girl — say, Sakura Bakushin O — the game doesn’t entirely reset like a traditional roguelike. Instead, Sakura Bakushin O becomes a veteran whose traits can potentially be inherited by whoever the player is training next.
“Ironically enough, it’s true to how horse racing actually works: lineage matters most,” says game economist Phillip Black. “The game reinforces this with its breeding system, and naming the girls after actual racehorses.”
Players gain characters and Support Cards, which impact a horse girl’s training regime, from gacha pulls, using the game’s main currency, Carats. These characters and Support Cards are then used in Umamusume’s roguelike runs, where players choose a single character and her supports to train her through a racing season.
Not only does this make for a game that keeps players returning, but its very gacha-dependent progress incentivises players to spend money – and a lot of it. Appmagic data suggests that Umamusume: Pretty Derby’s revenue per download (RPD) is $177.64 in Japan, and $11.68 outside of Japan.
To put that huge number in perspective, Appmagic estimates that Genshin Impact’s RPD in top eastern markets is $45.69, and $24.68 in top western territories.
Game design consultant Jakub Remiar says horse girl upgrades function like how gear stats are rolled in role-playing games like Diablo or Genshin Impact – “but on steroids”. Even if a player ends a run with perfect stats, there’s a chance the game’s randomness can see a horse girl fall at the final hurdle.
“Ultimately this creates a perfect system where every run counts, but still can get hampered by randomness, so it’s basically gacha-based reward progress,” Remiar continues. “Similar to dropping legendary gear in an RPG, you get ‘legendary’ veteran horse girls who rolled those perfect stats.”
Players can also seek out other “parents” from other players to level up their genepool in search of better and better stats. The big player spending therefore emerges mid-game, making Umamusume more than “a simple character collector”, says Black.
The Support cards and breeding mechanics make the game “an intense player-to-single-horse-girl repeatable campaign experience,” says Black. To build the ultimate horse girl, players must “make good campaign choices, Support Card decisions…and spend”, he says.
The enthusiasm for Umamusume: Pretty Derby’s horse girls has extended into interest for actual race horses. Developer Cygames put out a statement on how fans should behave when visiting horse ranches, and the real-life history and complicated legacy system make for a perfect storm of engagement and spending.
“Each umamusume is based on a real racehorse, and her in-game persona will reference the real-life counterpart in many ways,” adds the creator of the Umamusume: Pretty Derby guide website GameTora, who goes by ‘Gertas’ online.
“And it’s incredibly interesting to learn about a niche but rich topic like this. Many Umamusume players who had no interest in horse racing before will eventually catch themselves watching horse racing videos on YouTube.”
