Why Uma Musume Pretty Derby was a merchandising powerhouse before even reaching the West

• Cygames have recently started a new partnership with the US Breeders Cup
• It’s one of many major collaborations the company has undertaken
• Despite not yet seeing a Western release, Uma Musume has ballooned into a merchandising powerhouse, but how?

It wasn’t too long ago now that Uma Musume Pretty Derby was seen as a curiosity and little more. Horse girls racing around a track didn’t exactly sound like a world-beating concept for a game or anime for that matter. Yet here we are, a little under a decade down the road since it was first announced in 2016, and things couldn’t be more different.

Boasting its own anime series, manga, merchandise, spin-offs and multiple movies, the Uma Musume mobile game might be the series’ flagship, but it seems the IP itself is the cornerstone. And that’s without getting into Cygames’ numerous partnerships with real-life horse racing organisations, ranging from their recently-established agreement with the US-based Breeders’ Cup and longtime sponsorship of the Retired Horse Association of Japan.

It may seem baffling how rapidly this odd concept has risen to superstardom. And with Uma Musume’s hotly-anticipated English launch yet to receive a solid release date, that doesn’t seem to be stopping Cygames from putting out their tendrils to build up hype.

So how did this happen? And what can Uma Musume’s success, and rapid expansion, tell us about the world of Japanese games and merchandising?

Japan is big on merch, which shouldn’t be surprising to most of you, but for some, it requires a bit of explanation to see the sheer scale. It’s not unusual for a franchise to have everything from the expected (figures, comics, anime) to the completely bizarre (collaboration cafes, concerts, and drama CDs). It can often seem as if any flat surface has a character’s face or name emblazoned on it.

This kind of kitsch has been something that’s fascinated people around the world about Japan. But I don’t want to make it seem as if it’s solely unique to that nation, in fact, we can see some examples of it across the globe like Funplus' recently-released Sea of Conquest comic book series, but the most visible I’d argue is in Japan itself.

When I was in Japan covering the Tokyo Game Show, I thought I already had a handle on it after a previous trip back in 2018, but seeing it with fresh eyes and visiting one of the largest gaming shows on the planet made me realise I hadn’t even begun to grasp the scale.

Consider how much of a game changer (pun intended) something like Arcane or Castlevania was considered. The “breaking of the video game curse” may be monumental over here in the West, but in Japan and the East the idea of spin-off media for gaming is common practice, and genuinely great series have spawned from even the strangest places.

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But the most interesting thing about that is this kind of growth isn’t exactly organic. In fact, you could say that’s strictly regulated, and anticipated from the ground up. But how?

Well, coincidentally, while in Japan I got to chatting with someone who was knowledgeable on this very subject. And it was a very enlightening chat, especially when we got onto the topic of merchandising.

You see, many Japanese games and franchises don’t just originate from a single company. Rather they establish production committees of multiple interested parties. These can range from animation studios, to developers, publishers, and merchandise manufacturers, and they all help establish a long-term strategy for how they will monetise an IP.

On the one hand, this is why so many franchises tend to have a difficult time licensing-wise since there are so many individual companies that have their own investment in the subject. On the other hand, it also helps to explain exactly how games like Uma Musume can seemingly jump from concept to superstardom in the space of only a few years.

Obviously, from an artistic standpoint, this is a bit of a double-edged sword. Marketability and mass appeal for all but the most stunning of breakthrough series often means that, for outsiders, it can seem as if many Japanese games and media have particularly hegemonic elements. But at the same time, this is the sort of thing I think a lot of other companies in the West would do if they really grasped how to.

There are even more recent examples from Uma Musume itself, like the announcement of a new party game, Uma Musume: Pretty Derby - Party Dash, that's set to hit storefronts even before the mobile game that started the whole thing!

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Personally, I also feel that, while the idea of “weird Japan” is a bit outdated, the optimism to put games out there in more public spaces helps a lot. When you consider some of the most popular AAA series on console, they rarely have more than maybe a few figurines and collaborations with energy drink companies under their belts. Mobile is even more dire, with only the occasional outlier like Angry Birds truly taking advantage of being out there in the mainstream.

As I noted in my other piece, when I was in Japan it felt like every other surface was plastered in something that showed off a mobile series, even comparatively recent ones like Goddess of Victory: Nikke. And while that doesn’t mean the average Japanese person is playing these games on their off time, it does mean that almost all potential players are at least aware of it.

I think looking at Uma Musume as a case study is really interesting because now that it’s slated to release in the West we’ll see just how much of this cross-media content, if any, is going to make the transition. Of course, the anime series has already been pretty popular, and no doubt the upcoming movie will also see some kind of release, perhaps even a theatrical one like some other series.

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But ultimately, as Arcane has done for League of Legends, I think it’s worth looking at how many series, even those with really interesting worlds and characters, tend to languish around with the game alone. It really lays bare the problem with most people’s exposure to these games only being cheesy adverts and often annoying ones at that.

Meanwhile, as much as it may be tempting for some to scoff and roll their eyes at the waifu/husbando phenomenon in Japan, it’s undeniable that many of these characters and worlds that only exist on a mobile screen for us have enormous depth and breadth of media for fans to pick from in their native country.

So what’s the point? Should we be encouraging a move to this? Is this some kind of game-changing business strategy? Not necessarily, but I do think it’s interesting to look at a new perspective and think that, however strange you may find Japanese media, they and much of the East are giving games (especially mobile) the exciting new content they need to grow exponentially.