Horse-girl gacha recreation Umamusume: Fairly Derby has revealed an official partnership with actual life horse racing occasion the Breeders’ Cup with the intention to have a good time the discharge of the sport in English later this yr. Information of the partnership was unveiled on Oct. 1 by launch, however unveiled in social posts throughout the web a day later.
As a part of the partnership Umamusume developer Cygames will sponsor a race on the 2024 Breeders’ Cup World Championships. On the occasion, Cygames would be the name-in-title associate of the $2 million Cygames Breeders’ Cup Dash (G1), which will likely be held on Nov. 2.
As talked about, the partnership is in celebration of the upcoming launch of the English model of Umamusume: Fairly Derby, a simulation recreation that debuted in Japan in 2021.
The sport is an anime-inspired mobile-based gacha recreation set in a world the place nice race horses of the previous are reincarnated as horse women with comparable pace and racing functionality. Gamers try to boost and race these horse women as a part of the gameplay loop, though there’s a stunning lack of a playing part.
Umamusume: Fairly Derby additionally has an anime adaptation and a number of other manga primarily based on the media franchise, which might presumably make this recreation fall below the banner of an anime recreation. The anime aired three seasons, one spin-off, and a number of other brief internet collection between 2018 and 2023. A movie debuted in 2024, and one other spin off collection, Uma Musume: Cinderella Grey is ready to air in 2025.
Picture Credit score: Cygames
“We’re delighted to welcome Cygames as a brand new official associate of the World Championships,” mentioned Heather Higgins, senior vp of company partnerships for Breeders’ Cup Restricted.
“Cygames is a number one model within the gaming world and, just like the Breeders’ Cup World Championships, is dedicated to delivering high-quality leisure to a world viewers.”
“It’s my nice honor to announce our partnership with one of many world’s most prestigious establishments in horse racing, the Breeders’ Cup,” mentioned Koichi Watanabe, president of Cygames.
“Cygames’ mission is to carry ‘The Greatest in Leisure’ to a world viewers via our works and public endeavors. As a part of that imaginative and prescient, we’re releasing the English language model of Umamusume: Fairly Derby, a recreation closely influenced by the world of horse racing. Our hope is to forge a relationship with racing lovers via our partnership with the Breeders’ Cup and supply one other avenue for potential followers to find our content material.”
Tokyo-based Cygames is famend for the event and administration of quite a few cellular and console recreation titles together with Umamusume: Fairly Derby and Granblue Fantasy: Relink, in addition to numerous ventures within the animation and comedian industries. The corporate’s imaginative and prescient of being the perfect in leisure is mirrored in its fixed efforts to carry authentic and thrilling experiences to the world.
The Breeders’ Cup World Championships are Thoroughbred racing’s year-end Championship. The 2024 Breeders’ Cup World Championships, that includes 14 Grade 1 Championship races run throughout a two-day pageant price greater than $34 million in purses and awards, will likely be held Nov. 1-2 at Del Mar in Del Mar, California.
