Cygames’ horse girl racing and gatcha game Uma Musume Pretty Derby was the third highest-grossing mobile game of April 2021.
For those unfamiliar, Uma Musume Pretty Derby was intended to launch in 2018 in Japan and South Korea, but was ultimately delayed until February 24th of this year. Its companion anime series still premiered in 2018, along with a 2020 spin-off and sequel series to the original in 2021.
The show depicts famous Japanese horse races with a twist. The world features Horse Girls- girls born with ears, tails; and exceptional endurance, speed, and appetite. Blurring the line between idols and athletes, famous race horses such as Special Week, Silence Suzuka, Tokai Teio and more race for to achieve their hopes and dreams.
Along with pressure from the horses’ original owners, the show depicts all stallions as girls, and takes some liberties in cases where horses had to be put down after injury. Alongside recapping real races, additional fictitious races are shown.
The mobile game is currently only available in Japan, combining gacha with training and racing game elements. Sensor Tower reports that for April 2021, the game had the third highest overall revenue, and App Store revenue. This beat out the likes of Roblox, Clash of Clans, and Candy Crush Saga; only being bested by PUBG Mobile and Honor of Kings.
The game even bested Genshin Impact, which made an estimated $1 billion USD in six months since launching on mobile alone. Uma Musume Pretty Derby was fifth on the Google Play store in terms of revenue, which put it above Pokemon Go. The Pokemon franchise has made $100 billion USD in lifetime sales, with $22.7 billion USD in video games.
You can find the game’s overview trailer below.
https://youtu.be/0URWn4RCLIM
Uma Musume Pretty Derby is available in Japan on Android, and iOS.
This is Niche Imports. In this column, we regularly cover games that haven’t been announced for western audiences yet. Please leave feedback and let us know if there’s something you want us to cover!
Image: Uma Musume Pretty Derby official website
