When we talk about horse racing games, the conversation isn’t really long. There are only a handful of decent horse racing games that came out over the last two decades, and that’s about it.
But maybe because developers are continuing to look through the same lenses. How about creating a game based on horse racing, but instead of horses, use anime girls? Yes, it sounds ridiculous, but Umamusume: Pretty Derby proved that pivoting from the original racing game strategy can be a good thing for the industry.
And after its success, we’re finally spotting some movement in the horse racing gaming scene, and maybe this will be the push that is necessary to encourage developers to try new things.
Yes, it doesn’t make sense, and yes, it sounds silly. But sometimes that’s what people want. After all, it all comes down to how fun the game is to play, and the experience people get when playing it.
Let’s see how Umamusume’s billion-dollar success has inspired the horse racing gaming genre.
First, the Numbers Are Difficult to Ignore
Umamusume launched in Japan in February 2021 and became enormous almost immediately. On paper, nobody believed that this game would have any sales, but they proved us wrong.
By the time Cygames released the English version in June (thanks to the huge demand), the company said the game had already passed 30 million downloads across Asia. Some reports estimate that the Japanese version of the mobile game has generated more than $2.6 billion in revenue over the first four years. It became the highest-grossing mobile game in both 2021 and 2022.
And bear in mind, this was before the serious Western test began.
The English edition launched on iOS, Android, and PC on June 26, 2025. Within its first 18 days, reports estimated another $6.6 million in mobile spending outside Japan, including $4.3 million from the United States alone.
Steam provided an even clearer sign that curiosity had become actual participation. The PC version reached an all-time peak of 87,453 concurrent players in July 2025. More importantly, it did not vanish after launch week: SteamCharts still recorded thousands of simultaneous players more than a year later.
Honestly, these are wild numbers, even for mainstream superhero games or first-person shooters from renowned developers, let alone a horse racing game, for which, up until this point, no other had reached such success.
Yes, horse racing is globally popular, and people love placing bets on real races, but horse racing games never really caught on. In fact, people (mainly bettors) were more interested in TwinSpires horse racing tournaments, where they can participate through betting, than playing an actual horse racing game.
CyberAgent, Cygames’ parent company, eventually put the global effect into its own financial reporting. In its FY2026 results, the company specifically credited the English Umamusume release with driving overseas game sales sharply higher; by Q3 year-to-date, overseas sales had reached ¥43.2 billion.
The Clever Part Is That It Is Not Really Just a Racing Game
This is where developers should pay attention.
Cygames did not take traditional horse racing, reproduce a betting interface, and hope millions of teenagers suddenly became fascinated by handicapping.
It redesigned the fantasy around the sport.
Players act as trainers. They choose training activities, manage their trainee’s development, and prepare her for races. Statistics, skills, race distance, and running style matter, but so do character relationships and story events. Up to 18 runners can compete in fully animated races with commentary.
Cygames describes it as a sports life simulation, which is probably the most accurate label because calling it simply “horse racing” leaves out half the game.
The development team deliberately wanted players to become emotionally attached to an individual trainee. Cygames’ art director explained that the goal was for players to feel as though they were progressing toward a shared objective with the character rather than merely adjusting statistics. The team also extensively researched real racing history, including track conditions, weather, and how individual races unfolded.
Real Racehorses Gave the Game Something Fictional Sports Games Struggle to Create
Many sports games face a storytelling problem.
The player wants competition, but individual matches rarely contain enough narrative to sustain dozens of hours on their own.
Umamusume had more than a century of racing history waiting to be used.
Its characters inherit the names and elements of the careers of real horses. Cygames has recreated famous races and relationships while allowing the player’s training decisions to produce different outcomes. Its developers specifically studied historical records so those references would remain believable even inside an obviously fantastical setting.
That Does Not Mean Every Horse Game Is About to Make a Billion Dollars
This is the part publishers should not misunderstand.
Umamusume did not prove that putting a realistic Thoroughbred on a game cover automatically creates a gigantic audience.
If anything, it proved almost the opposite.
Cygames succeeded because it understood that horse racing alone was not the complete proposition.
The company combined racing with character collection, management, history, drama, music, and a broader multimedia franchise containing anime, manga, and live entertainment. Cygames itself says Umamusume was designed as a multimedia project rather than a standalone game.
That means copying the surface is probably useless. Twenty developers producing slightly different anime horse girls would miss the lesson completely.
We Are Already Seeing More Horse Games Appear
It would be too strong to claim that Umamusume single-handedly created every horse-themed game appearing now.
Development cycles are long. Trends overlap.
And horses did exist before 2021.
Important clarification. Still, the environment looks noticeably different.
PC gaming saw a broader surge in horse-focused releases and expansions throughout 2025, while July 2026 brought Full Stride, a dedicated jockey simulator for Steam and PlayStation 5. Gaming review sites explicitly framed it as an interesting counterpoint to Umamusume: a similar fascination with racing strategy, except the competitors are once again ordinary horses.
Meanwhile, Koei Tecmo continues expanding Winning Post, demonstrating that the simulation-heavy end of the category remains active too.
So, if you are a gamer and a horse racing fan, good news! The industry is finally healing, and we’re starting to see plenty of action with new games.
