Umamusume: Beautiful Derby: “To be truthful, we were not certain how a sport impressed by way of Eastern horse racing tradition could be won in a foreign country”

• Umamusume: Beautiful Derby introduced in Japan in February 2021 and international in June 2025.
• An nameless developer believes the anime adaptation, which launched within the West lengthy earlier than the sport, made Cygames conscious about its attainable in a foreign country.

After taking Japan by way of hurricane in 2021, multi-billion buck hit Umamusume: Beautiful Derby is in spite of everything taking a lap all over the world following its international rollout this June.

The pony lady racing sport is construction momentum in a foreign country. Right through its first international month, AppMagic estimates recommended cell participant spending was once more or less a 50/50 break up between Japan and the remainder of the sector, the place after two months, this has shifted to 57% in a foreign country.

Because the anime-style racer trots ahead, we discuss with an nameless developer on Cygames’ workforce about Umamusume: Beautiful Derby’s international release, the nuances of localisation, its multimedia emblem standing and extra.

Looking again at Umamusume’s origins in Japan, the developer highlights Cygames’ “deep hobby” in horse racing and the tradition surrounding it, which spawned the speculation of recreating that have in a sport.

“What truly impressed us had been the dramatic tales at the back of every racehorse, and we needed to give you the chance to proportion the ones tales with a broader target audience.

“That need led us to invite ourselves if shall we reimagine no longer most effective the races and information, but in addition the tales at the back of every horse, remodeling them into new sorts of leisure. That is how the speculation for the mission first took form.”

Simply how a hit that mission was took Cygames’ workforce by way of marvel, already reaching 30 million downloads throughout cell and PC in Asia on my own earlier than going international.

Whilst the developer can’t proportion any interior KPIs on Umamusume’s monetary efficiency, AppMagic estimates recommend the identify made virtually $1 billion on cell again in 2021 and raced past $2.5bn earlier than its international release.

It’s additionally Cygames’ top-grossing cell identify and was once thought to be Japan’s maximum profitable sport of 2021 and 2022.

“We’re very thankful that no longer most effective fanatics of video games and anime, but in addition supporters of the racehorses who lend their names to our characters, have come to understand concerning the mission,” the developer stocks.

“We imagine that our dedication to respecting the sector of horse racing, blended with our willpower to creating the sport amusing, resonated with many of us and contributed to its reputation.”

Trotting to transmedia

Whilst Umamusume: Beautiful Derby was once in the beginning introduced as a cell sport, the emblem in the end debuted as an internet manga in 2016. An anime collection adopted in 2018, succeeded by way of a 2nd season in 2021 which overlapped with the cell sport’s release.

Already a multimedia emblem by way of that point, this helped familiarise audience with anime protagonist Particular Week and different characters by the point they seemed within the gacha.

Umamusume as a emblem has additionally prolonged to an anime movie, a degree play in Tokyo and a derivative birthday party sport titled Umamusume: Beautiful Derby – Celebration Sprint, launched on console and PC reasonably than cell.

Nevertheless it was once the anime display that marked the West’s first reliable publicity to Umamusume, and its reception gave Cygames some optimism that the cell sport may additionally succeed in this target audience. Alternatively, the nameless dev unearths there wasn’t no question.

“To be truthful, we were not certain how a sport impressed by way of Eastern horse racing tradition could be won in a foreign country, particularly in Western markets. Alternatively, we’ve got been pleasantly shocked by way of the overwhelmingly certain reactions from such a lot of areas world wide,” they proportion.

“We now have loved seeing folks having amusing with Umamusume via social media and reside streams, and it really makes us satisfied to look fanatics world wide taking part in the sport.

“The in a foreign country distribution of the anime, amongst different issues, confirmed us that consciousness of Umamusume was once spreading no longer most effective inside of Japan but in addition throughout different portions of Asia and Western nations as smartly. As a way to let much more folks benefit from the collection, we labored to make it to be had in more than one languages.”

Now that the sport is discovering good fortune in a foreign country, the developer hopes it’ll power hobby in real-world horse racing. In spite of everything, lots of Umamusume’s characters are impressed by way of Eastern racehorses: the actual Particular Week was once a Eastern thoroughbred who raced from 1997 to 1999, as an example.

“It will be a perfect pleasure to understand that our sport helped stimulate enthusiasm round horse racing,” the developer says.

Languages, localisation and tough choices

Cygames showed that an English model of Umamusume: Beautiful Derby was once within the works in June 2024, greater than 3 years after its unlock in Japan. An reliable web site, X (previously Twitter) account and YouTube trailer had been launched, adapted to Western audiences, and fanatics in the USA quickly were given a primary have a look at the sport right through Anime Expo in Los Angeles.

Alternatively, in any case it took any other complete 12 months from the English give away to Umamusume: Beautiful Derby’s international rollout – greater than 4 years after its Eastern release. So, we ask the developer concerning the localisation procedure and any demanding situations that arose.

The stability between accessibility and cultural id seems to have performed a vital position: “We labored laborious to make the sport available and relatable for global gamers whilst staying true to the original global and spirit of Umamusume.

“Some Eastern phrases, like oshi (which means a favorite persona), had been already acquainted to many anime fanatics in a foreign country, so we saved explanations for the ones to a minimal.

“For different cultural components corresponding to katsudon, a dish thought to be fortunate in Japan as a result of katsu is a homophone for win, we added context inside of persona discussion to assist put across its which means of fine fortune to gamers much less accustomed to Eastern traditions.”

The developer recollects circumstances the place nuances of Japan’s tradition couldn’t be immediately translated, so the workforce looked for “an identical concepts” from the West.

“For instance, Maruzensky’s 80s/90s slang was once tailored the use of identical expressions in American English, whilst Daitaku Helios’ slang was once localised the use of recent Gen Z slang the place suitable. Addressing those cultural variations was once surely one of the crucial difficult facets of localisation, but in addition one of the crucial rewarding stories for our workforce.”

We additionally ask the developer about how the sport’s many horse women are tailored from genuine thoroughbreds, and the way intently the ones horses’ homeowners paintings with Cygames to look them represented.

They aren’t ready to proportion the secrets and techniques at the back of the design procedure, however we do be informed extra about making the ones characters as acquainted as imaginable within the West to fanatics of the anime.

“The first actual medium during which we had been ready to introduce Umamusume to in a foreign country audiences was once the anime. As a result of this, we expected that many fanatics who discovered about Umamusume and determined to check out the sport would input during the anime.

“To assist those fanatics really feel extra accustomed to the content material, we determined to stay the unique Eastern voices.”

On the similar time, there are attainable barriers in maintaining Eastern voices reasonably than recording an English dub, which Cygames has taken additional steps to triumph over.

“We had been additionally mindful that no longer offering English voiceovers may make gameplay tough for some gamers. To deal with this, we added English subtitles and textual content no longer just for spoken portions but in addition in sections that weren’t in the beginning subtitled within the Eastern model, as a part of options distinctive to the English unlock.”

Victory lap

But any other IP from Asia discovering massive good fortune as a cell gacha, Umamusume: Beautiful Derby duties gamers with rolling the cube on new characters, buying and selling in-game forex for an opportunity at the newest contender. Monetisation comes from gamers spending on that forex, due to this fact, and not using a precise having a bet at the horse-like races depicted.

As soon as gamers recruit their trainees, they may be able to construct them up and assist beef up their stats between races, given the choice to concentrate on stamina, pace, or different sorts of charter. After a race, gamers then watch the competition carry out in idol-like live shows the place the victors take centre degree.

Despite the fact that there are transparent parallels to Japan’s prevalent idol tradition, the sport’s nameless developer says that “strictly talking, the Umamusume don’t seem to be idols”. Somewhat, they evaluate live shows to a victory lap observed in genuine sports activities, “particular moments the place the victorious Umamusume can proportion their pleasure immediately with their fanatics”.

One may additionally say the sport itself is taking a victory lap, cheered on by way of this certain reception within the West after already stampeding to monetary good fortune in its house nation.