Horse racing, especially in Japan, is a very popular sport, with the sport garnering a large audience, high betting turnover and strong cultural relevance would lead to many media being produced around it. “Umamusume: Pretty Derby,” is one such game, with the base premise being that of personified race horses. The game features a wide array of horse themed characters that are based on real life Japanese racehorses such as Special Week, Daiwa Scarlet, Tokai Teio and so on. Just recently, on June 26, 2025, the game received a global release after being a Japan exclusive for four years and has taken the online gaming community by storm.
The way in which “Umamusume: Pretty Derby,” portrays its horse characters, it’s very clear how it attained such popularity. Haru Urara, for example, is a Japanese racehorse with an unprecedented losing streak of 0 wins and 113 losses, which in a weird twist led to her popularity in Japan, earning her the title “the shining star of losers everywhere.” Her counterpart in “Umamusume: Pretty Derby,” was intentionally designed with abysmal stats and yet players would go out of their way to have her win races within the game, with many players saying things like “She never gave up, why should I?”
The game is not only popular because of the nature of how it adapts its horses, but with streamers and online content creators as well. One content creator on YouTube, known as Ludwig, is planning a live tournament based on the game. According to Game Rant, “Ludwig does not share many details about the format for the “Umamusume: Pretty Derby,” tournament, though some aspects of the tournament can likely be inferred. The tournament will likely be a major stream event alongside other popular content creators, acting as a closed event rather than an open tournament” and that “Ludwig’s plans for an “Umamusume: Pretty Derby,” tournament serves as a testament to how popular the game has become following its official launch.”
