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Uma Musume Pretty Derby - What is this game? ft. Junde Yu from App Annie
Key insights
6 takeaways- 01Uma Musume Pretty Derby successfully hybridizes male-dominated horse racing simulation mechanics with female-oriented idol-training systems to broaden its demographic reach.
- 02The game utilizes high-production-value assets and established anime intellectual property to justify premium pricing within its gacha-based monetization model.
- 03Cross-media strategy, including deep storytelling and professional voice acting, is a primary driver for maintaining high average revenue per user.
- 04While the title has achieved viral success in North Asian markets like Korea, the core appeal of the game remains culturally distinct and faces significant barriers to entry in Western markets.
- 05Japan accounts for over 70 percent of global downloads and more than 85 percent of global revenue for the idol-training subgenre, highlighting extreme regional concentration.
- 06Strong, recognizable IP serves as a sustainable user acquisition strategy in an era of increasing privacy constraints, such as the deprecation of IDFA.
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Transcript
hey jinday in the japanese market there seems to be a sub drama of game called idol games and in particular there's this game called uma musume derby or kind of like idle horse racing which to westerners i think seems like a very strange type of game mixing japanese idols and horse racing but it's in japan one of the top mobile rpgs in that market and i was wondering if you could talk to us about this game give us a little bit more context starting with you know what is this a game about and how does it work great thank you i think firstly it's also kind of not so familiar for of asians i think i do think it's a unique game that combines two styles of gameplay firstly horse racing which is kind of in a kind of gambling setting and idol training sim as you mentioned so this story actually comes from an existing anime show in japan where some
well-known racehorses were which actually had the names of actual famous resources in japan and they were reborn as pretty horse girls you know they were they're like pretty girls but they had horse years at the tail and then the gamers would then raise these idols boom them train them and then race them competitively to win prizes so that's the whole concept of this game and jinde why do you think this game does so well you mentioned that this game is actually a little bit unusual even for the japanese market so what do you think are the secrets to its success well firstly it's a combination of two um successful types of gameplay horse racing and idol training were already successful in japan so but the interesting thing here was that you know horse racing was primarily a game played by men and idol training sims were played by majority female gamers so this was an attempt really to attract both audiences and it seemed that they have achieved that objective quite well and they've also got very high average user engagement and very high average average revenue
per user right so that's the the one thing they've done very well it's a unique concept and the next thing is that it's uh um is also an existing ip in japan it came from the show anime show so it does benefit from having high production value because this production is linked to other cross media projects and assets uh they will have rich characters rich story line voice acting a lot of professional work being done so this high production value also means that you can put a premium on the items being sold via gacha so your characters your rare items these are these would have more recognition and more higher value as well from the users and finally because uh they're targeting asia so asian markets are usually the first target markets for these type of games uh because just because there is a stronger fan base of anime and more affinity towards japanese culture in these markets especially in north asia got it and this game seems very specific to the japanese market but even if the game is specific to
japan do you think there are things from this game that western game developers can learn and potentially use in their markets or if they're trying to enter the japanese market right you're right that this is a very specific japanese game and although it's also picked up in korea i was chatting with one of my korean colleagues and you were saying that you know this became uh this game became a meme in korea as you know another weird japanese game and it actually became very popular quickly this meme and so as for the potential of this success in the western market uh i i think there is a potential because there's firstly there's no shortage of the fan base of japanese anime or japanese games in these markets but having said that the idol training games so far has had they've had a hard time penetrating outside japan because these this theme of collecting cute female characters i think this is quite specific to japan or north asia you know okay in the first half of this year we looked at the market data japan accounted for more than 70 percent of
global downloads of the idle training subgenre and actually over 85 percent of global revenues so it's pretty much still very concentrated in japan so i think in terms of what western developers could learn from this i think it's more of the lessons behind the production of this game so firstly in terms of working with ip owners that's a very attractive proposition actually more attractive these days especially with the the changes around idfa and it would not be just uh restricted to gaming ips they could also work with movie ips book ips anime ips and so on right and and the other one of course would be uh the possibility of combining very unlikely gaming genres gaming sub genres and audiences to try to get the best of both worlds alright great well today thanks so much for your time and insights and that's it thanks
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Summary
Uma Musume Pretty Derby represents a significant case study in the Japanese mobile gaming market, blending the traditionally male-dominated genre of horse racing simulation with the idol-training mechanics typically favored by female audiences. By reimagining famous Japanese racehorses as anthropomorphic characters, the game leverages a pre-existing anime intellectual property to create a high-production-value experience. This cross-media strategy allows for deep storytelling, professional voice acting, and high-quality assets, which in turn justifies premium pricing within the game’s gacha-based monetization model.
Market data underscores the extreme regional concentration of this genre, with Japan accounting for over 70 percent of global downloads and more than 85 percent of global revenue for the idol-training subgenre. While the game has seen success in other North Asian markets like Korea—often through viral, meme-driven popularity—it remains culturally distinct. The core appeal of collecting and training cute female characters is deeply rooted in Japanese and North Asian cultural preferences, presenting a barrier to entry for Western markets where such themes have historically struggled to gain mass-market traction.
Despite these geographic limitations, the success of the title offers valuable strategic lessons for global developers. The primary takeaway is the efficacy of cross-genre hybridization, where combining disparate gaming mechanics can successfully broaden a title's demographic reach. Furthermore, the game highlights the growing importance of leveraging established intellectual properties—ranging from anime and books to film—as a robust acquisition strategy. In an era of increasing privacy-related marketing constraints, such as the deprecation of IDFA, utilizing strong, recognizable IP provides a sustainable pathway for developers to drive user engagement and maintain high average revenue per user.
