Umamusume: Pretty Derby (mobile game)

Umamusume: Pretty Derby
JP logoKR logoTW logoCN logoEN logo
Kanji	ウマ娘 プリティーダービー
Romaji	Umamusume Puritī Dābī
English	Umamusume: Pretty Derby
Traditional Chinese	賽馬娘 Pretty Derby
Simplified Chinese	闪耀!优俊少女
Korean	우마무스메 프리티 더비
Game Information
Developer	Cygames
Publisher	JP Cygames KR Kakao Games TW Komoe Game CN Bilibili EN Cygames
Platform(s)	Windows DMM Games (JP) Steam (JP, EN) Android iOS
Release	JP (Android/iOS) February 24th, 2021 JP (Windows) March 10th, 2021 KR June 20th, 2022 TW June 27th, 2022 CN August 30th, 2023 EN June 26th, 2025
Engine	Unity
Website Backloggd

Umamusume: Pretty Derby (ウマ娘 プリティーダービー, Umamusume Puritī Dābī) is a mobile game produced by Cygames available on Android, iOS, and Windows, which was released on February 24th, 2021.

History

The Umamusume project started as a multimedia project first announced at AnimeJapan 2016, with the release of the first PV and a mobile game scheduled to release in Winter 2018. The first PV of the mobile game was released on AnimeJapan 2017, looking very different from the actual game, but with many of the gameplay mechanics being the same. In an interview with Famitsu in January 2017, the then-producer Akihiro Ishihara claimed the game was "about 25% complete", and to look forward to "the end of [2017]'s G1 race". Cygames then kept releasing other several PVs throughout 2017 and 2018, and released the first season of the anime in Spring 2018.

In December 2018, the game was officially delayed, with an unknown release date in 2019. In April 2019, Akihiro Ishihara, the producer back then for Umamusume, left Cygames, and in December 2019, the game was delayed once again to 2020; this date was mentioned in CyberAgent's (Cygames' parent company) Q2 and Q3 reports. From 2019 to mid-2020, the project as a whole had almost no new content, until Umayon's release in Summer 2020 and the announcement of the Cinderella Gray manga.

During a Pakalive stream in December 2020, 5 years after the project was first revealed, the game was announced to release on February 24th, 2021, with pre-registrations opening on February 10th, and a PV release which is the game we see now.

Story

Each playable Umamusume has a unique career story following her first three years as a racer, where the player takes the role of her trainer helping her succeed. In addition, the game also has several types of fully voiced stories presented in a widescreen, visual novel-like format:

• The Main Story, a series of chapters each highlighting a different Umamusume, with Act 1 focusing on Team Sirius and Act 2 focusing on Team Ascella. Each chapter includes races the player can enter one Veteran Umamusume in, which they must win or place in to unlock the next episode.
• Umamusume Stories, seven-episode stories that introduce each trainee, with the first four chapters serving as a direct prologue to her career.
• Story Events, eight-episode stories that accompany each monthly event and can be unlocked by earning Event Points, typically focusing on a set of Umamusume and their antics off the track.

Releases outside of Japan

There's currently four active releases outside of Japan. These have been released after the Japan release, so events/cards are not synced.

• Korean release
  • This was the first release outside of Japan, released on June 20th, 2022. The game is published by Kakao Games and is localized to Korean. According to the publisher, the game hit a million pre-registrations within 2 weeks.
    • This version received backlash shortly after the release due to various issues regarding how the game was being managed by the publisher Kakao Games. These included localization issues, missing features compared to the Japan release, gacha banners being cut short without notice, and a Champions Meeting event being announced with less than a week of anticipation, compared to the normal 4 weeks in the Japan release. These prompted users to have an 8 hour discussion with higher-ups of the publishers, but after being unhappy with the answers given, Kakao Games was sued by +7,000 players for an amount of 9 billion won ($6.4 million at the time). The lawsuit was later dropped by the players after "most of their demands were met". This was after Kakao Games replaced most of the managers were replaced and an "improvement task force" was set up, managed directly by the CEO.
      • Is it worth noting that during the 8-hour discussion between the players and the company, out of the 6 members of the company, only one played the game.
      • While this was happening, the game reached a review rating of 1.1 stars in the Google Play Store.
• Traditional Chinese release
  • This was released shortly after the Korean release, on June 27th, 2022. The game is published by Komoe Game and is localized to Traditional Chinese.
• Chinese release
  • The Chinese version of the game was released on August 30th, 2023. Published by Bilibili, it was localized into Simplified Chinese with adjustments including a title change and modifications to some racehorse names to comply with Chinese regulations. However, the game was abruptly pulled from app stores just a week later, on September 7th. While the official reason given was the need for "technical upgrades," speculation from the community suggested that the removal was due to Bilibili's failure to fully comply with China's censorship laws. The game remained unavailable for download until a surprise return on May 22nd, 2025. Following its reappearance in app stores, the service officially resumed. In a significant milestone, the publisher released a 1st-1st-anniversary PV on August 26th, 2025, marking the game's comeback and renewed commitment. According to announcements made on the official Umamusume Bilibili account, the development is now focused on an accelerated update schedule intended to "make up for the two-year gap" caused by the suspension. The game is currently receiving regular updates and has now progressed to its third main scenario. This is a stark contrast to the period between September 2023 and May 2025, when the servers were only accessible to players who had downloaded the game initially. During that hiatus, the game was stuck in a holding pattern, limited to the URA training scenario and a cycle of rerun events and banners, as updates could not be distributed through official app stores.
• English release
  • The English version was released on June 26th, 2025. The game is also published by Cygames and is localized to English.
    • The English release of the game was announced during PakaLive TV Vol. 42 on June 24th, 2024, with the release date and Steam release later announced during PakaLive TV Vol. 52 on April 27th, 2025.
    • There was a playable demo available at the Cygames' booth during Anime Expo from July 4-7, 2024, and at Churchill Downs Racecourse during the Kentucky Derby from May 2-3, 2025.

Gameplay

This section is a stub.
You can help the Umamusume Wiki by expanding it.

Training is the main gameplay element of the game. There are a few things to keep in mind before doing a training run. Umamusume are differentiated between playable characters and supports cards.

• Playable characters are what you actually train, and their stats will be affected by the affection level of the Umamusume and her inheritance before starting the run.
• Support cards are what give your Umamusume stat boosts and skills during training. They all have different events that can occur during training, which have some story and give you some extra bonuses. Because of this, you can't have a support card for the Umamusume you're currently training.

You train your Umamusume in order to compete in races, in the hope of winning them. Before starting a race, you'll have the chance to change your Umamusume's running strategy, but during the actual race, you'll just spectate from the stands. For a more in-depth guide and introduction, there are different community-made guides, including Gametora's Beginners Guide and Erzzy's Reference Doc.

The game contains a "Concert Theater" mode, where you can watch the Umamusume you have obtained perform in 3D music videos. A list of all in-game music videos can be found on the Concert Theater page.

Reception

The game by the end of 2021, according to Sensor Tower, made $990million in gross revenue, becoming the 9th most grossing game worldwide for the year. By March 2024, a month after the game's third anniversary, Sensor Tower claims that the game has made over $2.4billion in revenue throughout its lifetime, accounting for 72% of Cygames' mobile game revenue share. It is worth noting that Sensor Tower only tracks mobile revenue, and this number may be higher due to the Windows version.

Thanks to Umamusume: Pretty Derby's success, Abema, one of CyberAgent's subsidiaries, was able to live stream the 2022 FIFA World Cup free of charge for the first time in Japan.

Since the announcement of the English version, various events have been sponsored by Cygames with the inclusion of the game. The game had a demo on Anime Expo 2024, and one on the 2025 Kentucky Derby, which was also sponsored by Cygames itself. Cygames also became sponsors for the 2025 Breeder's Cup and the 2025 American Oaks, both featuring Umamusume as it's main attraction.

On December 11th 2025, Umamusume: Pretty Derby won the "Best Mobile Game" category on the 2025 Game Awards.