two & a half gamers Uma Musume Pretty Derby: All YOU need to Know! Full Breakdown
We go deep on Uma Musume Pretty Derby, Japan’s gacha horse girl sensation, and a masterclass in roguelite meta complexity. With real horse DNA, multi-layered training runs, six gacha layers, and a live ops cadence that powers up to 72 million dollars per launch month, Uma Musume is a unicorn in the global market—an RPG sim that’s too Japanese for most of the West, but a billion-dollar franchise at home.
What’s inside:
Japan-First, World-Second: Ninety-five percent of all revenue still comes from Japan.
Insane Revenue Per Download
True Roguelite Progression: Training runs carry over legacy stats, traits, and inspiration from previous “parents.” Every decision in a run matters. Social features like friend-run inheritance and deep support card gacha fuel endless replay.
Authentic Horse Girl DNA
Too Complex for the West: The English launch saw a brief spike (three hundred thousand dollars in a day) but quickly dropped. Complexity, visual style, and waifu focus make it a core product for otaku and hardcore sim fans.
Key Takeaway:
Uma Musume Pretty Derby is proof that deep, highly local games with real social and meta layers can still print billions, if you own your niche and deliver unmatched complexity.
Get our MERCH NOW: 25gamers.com/shop
--------------------------------------
PVX Partners offers non-dilutive funding for game developers.
Go to: https://pvxpartners.com/
They can help you access the most effective form of growth capital once you have the metrics to back it.
- Scale fast
- Keep your shares
- Drawdown only as needed
- Have PvX take downside risk alongside you
+ Work with a team entirely made up of ex-gaming operators and investors
---------------------------------------
Vibe. Vibe is the leading Streaming TV ad platform for small and medium-sized businesses looking for actionable advertising campaign performance.
https://www.vibe.co/
---------------------------------------
For an ever-growing number of game developers, this means that now is the perfect time to invest in monetizing direct-to-consumer at scale.
Our sponsor FastSpring:
Has delivered D2C at scale for over 20 years
They power top mobile publishers around the world
Launch a new webstore, replace an existing D2C vendor, or add a redundant D2C vendor at fastspring.gg.
---------------------------------------
This is no BS gaming podcast 2.5 gamers session. Sharing actionable insights, dropping knowledge from our day-to-day User Acquisition, Game Design, and Ad monetization jobs. We are definitely not discussing the latest industry news, but having so much fun! Let’s not forget this is a 4 a.m. conference discussion vibe, so let's not take it too seriously.
Panelists: Jakub Remiar, Matej Lancaric
Youtube: https://youtu.be/HmKZaCWlDBI
Join our slack channel here: https://join.slack.com/t/two-and-half-gamers/shared_invite/zt-2um8eguhf-c~H9idcxM271mnPzdWbipg
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Uma Musume Pretty Derby
06:02 Understanding the Game's Popularity and Mechanics
09:11 The Unique Design and Gameplay of Uma Musume
12:02 The Evolution of Horse Racing Games
15:10 Rogue-lite Mechanics in Uma Musume
17:58 Character Selection and Training Strategies
21:06 The Role of Support Cards and Skills
27:03 Final Thoughts on Gameplay and Complexity
37:19 Racing Mechanics and Strategies
42:13 Game Progression and Challenges
55:22 Monetization and Gacha Mechanics
01:01:24 Marketing Strategies and Community Engagement
Matej Lancaric
User Acquisition & Creatives Consultant
https://lancaric.me
Jakub Remiar
Game design consultant
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakubremiar
---------------------------------------
Please share the podcast with your industry friends, dogs & cats. Especially cats! They love it!
Hit the Subscribe button on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple!
Please share feedback and comments - matej@lancaric.me