[Review Video] A Game That Makes You Empathize with Racehorses... Trying Out 'Uma Musume'

Racing is Eye Candy with Major Training and Strategy Elements
Inspired by Real Racehorses... Diverse Stories Integrated for Each Character

[Asia Economy PD Yoon Jin-geun] The mobile game "Uma Musume Pretty Derby" (Uma Musume) is ranking high in both popularity and revenue on Korea's two major app markets.

"Uma Musume" is a training simulation game developed by Japan's Cygames. It is inspired by horse racing and anthropomorphizes horses that actually existed in Japanese horse racing.

According to the big data platform company Mobile Index, as of the 28th real-time ranking, "Uma Musume" is ranked 2nd on Google Play and 1st on the App Store.

In the game, humanoid characters with horse ears and tails compete in running races. Players watch races of characters they have trained, accompanied by commentary reminiscent of real horse racing. After the race, the characters who participated perform on stage. The goal of the game is to train your characters well to achieve high rankings and secure the lead role in the performance.

The game focuses more on training than racing. Players must train abilities such as speed, power, and intelligence over three years of in-game time to achieve good results. During the character training process, players can also enjoy unique events and dialogues, which encourages them to focus more on character development.

After finishing the race in the game, the characters perform to the music. The character who takes first place occupies the center stage, receiving the most attention. Photo by 'Uma Musume Pretty Derby' game capture

"Uma Musume" is praised for realistically incorporating actual horse racing training and race strategies into the game. The method of training characters to achieve good results and challenge higher-level races closely resembles real horse racing in Japan. Netizens have given "Uma Musume" the nickname "Malttal," a direct Korean translation meaning "horse daughter."

"Uma Musume" attracted great public anticipation in Japan from the moment its development was announced in 2016. Before the game was released, it was first made into an animation in 2017. According to Sensor Tower, a Japanese mobile data analysis company, "Uma Musume" ranked first in both app downloads and revenue for the entire year of 2021.