Churchill Downs, the web site of the Kentucky Derby and plenty of different horse races, was chilly and muddy on Saturday, Might 3, 2025. That did not cease a whole bunch of individuals – decked out in their best clothes, fits, and naturally hats with a layer of rain poncho on prime – from attending, nor did it cease me.
The one distinction is I wasn’t there for the actual Derby; I was there for one purpose and one purpose solely: to play a horse girl gacha game.
I’d found some weeks prior that Japanese developer Cygames, identified for well-liked titles like Granblue Fantasy and Shadowverse amongst others, would sponsor the actual real-life Kentucky Derby the place bodily horses zoom round and folks make bets. The unlikely connective tissue between the two is the well-liked cellular video game Umamusume: Pretty Derby.
In your marks
Should you’re not acquainted, Umamusume: Pretty Derby sees gamers prepare and compete with horse women – broadly referred to as Umamusume, each plural and singular – that you would be able to “recruit” through digital foreign money that you would be able to purchase or earn at no cost, impressed by actual Japanese racehorses. Collaborating in races permits you to enhance your favourite racer’s stats, and between every you may forge bonds with others as you construct your secure of stars. There’s an idol facet to all of it, with the administration of relationships and faculty life and occasions, and that even consists of live shows.
And Umamusume: Pretty Derby is wildly profitable in Japan regardless of its age – the app launched again in 2021, and the manga it is primarily based on launched again in 2016. In accordance to a Sensor Tower report from September 2024, whereas the Dragon Quest franchise beat it out on cellular in the nation throughout a number of video games, Pretty Derby was prime canine (prime horse?) for a single game. This, in accordance to the report, was thanks in half to the game’s third anniversary celebration driving income will increase.
Even so, it struck me as significantly odd and amusing at the time that Cygames would trouble as regardless of its general reputation, Umamusume: Pretty Derby nonetheless has not really been launched in English. (The English launch date was later introduced, forward of the occasion, as June 26.) However the sponsorship announcement indicated there’d be an actual, bodily Cygames sales space situated in Churchill Downs’ infield… with Umamusume: Pretty Derby playable.
Get set… Go!
Because it occurs, I’m really primarily based out of Louisville, KY, which is never useful in my line of labor and infrequently as a substitute actively troublesome. And the Kentucky Derby additionally occurs to, properly, occur in Louisville, KY. On this explicit second, the stars aligned, and a prolonged back-and-forth electronic mail that originally appeared shocked by my curiosity did finish with me getting assurances that sure, I actually may come play throughout the Derby.
“The trail there was muddy and suffering from discarded White Claw and Excessive Midday cans”
And so, on an exceedingly wet Saturday, I walked for an hour to play the horse girl gacha game Umamusume: Pretty Derby at the actual Kentucky Derby. The trail there was muddy and suffering from discarded White Claw and Excessive Midday cans, and roughly 90% of the individuals I encountered fell simply inside a small variety of faculty pupil stereotypes. Given the proximity to the College of Louisville, I wasn’t precisely shocked.
However I had puzzled from the soar whether or not the vibes juxtaposition of the two would even remotely work. When I consider Cygames taking its video games on the street, I consider, say, Anime Expo with an orderly-if-chaotic sales space. Not the racetrack, and positively not the infield of 1. I’m not alone both, as Sam Aune of Sensor Tower told Sports Business Journal, “I have to marvel how a lot their viewers overlaps with the Kentucky Derby viewers.”
And but there Cygames was, with its moist tent squeezed between the U.S. Military Reserve and a a lot bigger tent for betting owned and operated by Churchill Downs itself. A number of employees members milled about and smiled, providing followers and pens whereas individuals in varied states of drenched and drunk filtered in and out.
Whereas Cygames supplied demos for Shadowverse: Worlds Past, Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising, and Granblue Fantasy: Relink in addition to Umamusume: Pretty Derby, by far the largest draw for wanderers appeared to be a photograph alternative in the nook that was principally an excuse to pose with some skilled lighting. The trajectory for most folk appeared to be 1) ducking out of the rain as a result of the tent occurred to be there and open earlier than 2) getting satisfied to snap a free photograph after which 3) ducking again out.
Game time
“What I noticed was polished and properly produced, and it does genuinely really feel like it is going to serve a novel area of interest”
In complete, I spent roughly two hours hanging out with my digital Umamusume buddies between the important story, hangout occasions, profession mode, and tutorial part. Whereas the textual content was solely in English, solely Japanese VO was out there, making it troublesome to gauge what the ultimate product would possibly really seem like come the finish of June as I solely scratched the floor and could not get sense of the monetization or charges as free banners appeared to be solely turned off.
As somebody solely tangentially conscious of the franchise, the breadth and depth of Umamusume: Pretty Derby was stunning. Races are surprisingly sophisticated with stats like Guts, Energy, Wit; chosen stances like Tempo or Entrance to preserve shut to the pack to overtake later or strive to keep in the lead from the soar; and quite a lot of abilities, moods, and extra. There’s loads of granularity there for anybody that wishes it, and the majority of my time was spent coaching, throwing myself in opposition to a race, and coaching extra.
Nevertheless it all comes down to launch in the finish. Will it replace repeatedly sufficient? What sort of bugs would possibly there be? How stingy will the gacha components really feel? How about the full translation – will or not it’s good? What I noticed was polished and properly produced, and it does genuinely really feel like it is going to serve a novel, underserved area of interest in the market.
A part of that perception was reaffirmed then and there at the Kentucky Derby, even. Whereas the overwhelming majority of patrons that managed to wander into the tent have been intrigued at finest by Umamusume: Pretty Derby, tapping for a bit earlier than abandoning it, as I was preparing to go away a pair of younger males excitedly beelined straight towards it once they noticed the emblem outdoors. They’d come from Chicago, and instructed me at least one huge purpose was to play the horse girl gacha game.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby formally launches in English on June 26, 2025 for iOS, Android, and PC through Steam.
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