Tag: Umamusume: Pretty Derby

The Game Awards crowned the game of the year last night amid huge controversies

Last night was the Game Awards, a gala that aspires to be the Oscars of video games. And among all the announcements made, of which we have highlighted the most important of the night, they also gave out a few awards. Giving them different weight and importance, it still isn’t the Oscars, but it has become the big gala of video games. And it is also an awards show where it is easy to attend to discover what is being cooked up in the industry at all levels. Before diving into the big winners and losers of each category, it is important […]

Last night was the Game Awards, a gala that aims to be the Oscars of video games. Among all the announcements made, of which we have highlighted the most important of the night, several awards were also given. Giving them different weight and importance, it still isn’t the Oscars, but it has become the major gala of video games. And it is also an awards ceremony where it is easy to attend to discover what is being cooked in the industry at all levels.

Before diving into the big winners and losers of each category, it’s important to provide a brief summary. Knowing how many nominations each of the involved parties had is essential.

The big favorite of the night was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. With 13 nominations, the French game had a hard time not leaving as the big winner of the gala, especially when no one had received so many nominations in the history of the Games Awards. Following closely were Death Stranding 2: On The Beach and Ghost of Yotei, with 7 nominations, and Hades II and Hollow Knight: Silksong, with 6 respectively. Among the surprises were Split Fiction, which only had 4 nominations, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance II and Silent Hill f, which only managed 3.

How did it turn out for everyone? With few surprises, to be honest. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 was the biggest winner with 9 statuettes out of the 13 that could be won, leaving no room for anyone else. In that sense, Death Stranding 2: On The Beach and Ghost of Yotei are the big losers of the night, as they went home empty-handed despite all their nominations. A big disappointment for Sony.

Creators, players, and online

Among the most unique categories are those of esports and creators. Here, Counter-Strike 2 stood out particularly. Winning both the award for best esports and having a Counter-Strike 2 team, Team Vitality, win the award for best esports team, Valve has been the big winner in this category. Although there were no surprises, Jung “Chovy” Ji-hoon took home the title of best esports athlete for League of Legends after an excellent Worlds.

For his part, MoistCr1TiKaL has won the award for best content creator of the year. With tough competition from Kai Cenat, it is quite likely that being a much more likable figure in public outside of the streaming fandom itself has had an impact.

Among the awards separated from the rest of the categories, Wuthering Waves won the Players’ Voices largely due to the rewards offered by Kuro Games for players to vote for their game. In the most anticipated game category, GTAVI won, much to absolutely no one’s surprise, and for best adaptation, the second season of The Last of Us took home the big prize. Similarly, Doom: The Dark Ages achieved its only award by winning innovation in accessibility for its numerous difficulty options.

A game that has eclipsed all others

Entering the major categories, it is evident that there is a clear winner above all others. That does not take away from the fact that there have been some quite interesting awards. Mario Kart World won best sports game, Final Fantasy Tactics: The Ivalice Chronicles won best strategy game, and Donkey Kong Bananza won best family game.

In the field of action-focused games, Hades 2 won best action game and Hollow Knight: Silksong won best action-adventure game. The highly questionable Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves won best fighting game, not without controversy.

As no surprise to anyone, ARC Raiders won the award for best multiplayer game. And its main competitor, Battlefield 6, won best sound design, rightly taking the award from Expedition 33. In the impact games category, the interesting South of Midnight won, and No Man’s Sky won for best support. Additionally, The Midnight Walk won best VR game and Umamusume: Pretty Derby won best mobile game, resulting in a well-distributed set of secondary awards.

But at the end of the day, there was only one big winner. A game that took it all. Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 won the awards for best role-playing game, best indie game, best indie debut, best soundtrack and music, best art direction, best narrative, best direction, and game of the year. Accumulating all the technical awards, except one, and all the big awards, becoming the grand prize of the year according to the Game Awards. Even if there has been some controversy over whether it should be considered an indie game or not.

With this, the Game Awards concluded, much less distributed than usual, although with great announcements and a clear winner. Something that gives us a clear perspective on the situation of the mainstream video game industry.

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The super hit of the season is a horse racing video game featuring anime girls that has been sweeping Japan for years

Sometimes some things seem to come out of nowhere. Overnight a game, a series, or a movie seems to be everywhere and it seems to make no sense at all. We are not talking, of course, about those works that have studied and gargantuan marketing campaigns, but about those that without apparent advertising suddenly seem to be everywhere. The works that seem to capture people’s minds without us even realizing it, at least until they are already extremely popular. This has been the case with the latest sensation on Steam, Umamusume: […]

Sometimes some things seem to come out of nowhere. Overnight a game, a series, or a movie seems to be everywhere and it makes no sense at all. We are not talking, of course, about those works that have studied and gargantuan marketing campaigns, but about those that without apparent advertising suddenly seem to be everywhere. The works that seem to capture people’s minds without us even realizing it, at least until they are already extremely popular.

This has been the case with the latest sensation on Steam, Umamusume: Pretty Derby. With around 40,000 concurrent players consistently since its launch, the game has taken social media by storm. Something you may have noticed if you’ve suddenly read people talking about their different horse, leaving you quite confused about it. But we are here to help you understand what this is all about.

Horse racing, idols, and a premise that’s hard to explain

Umamusume: Pretty Derby is a transmedia franchise created by Cygames, a Japanese video game company specialized in mobile games. Particularly known for Granblue Fantasy and The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls, its biggest success to date is Umamusume: Pretty Derby, a game whose release was originally planned for late 2018, but was delayed until February 2021 in Asian countries and until February 25 of this same year in the rest of the world. It has become an almost automatic success in all territories where it has been released.

What is Umamusume: Pretty Derby about? In a world very similar to ours, there exists a species of anthropomorphic horse-girls —they have the speed, endurance, and the tail and ears of a horse, but everything else of an adorable anime girl— who train in academies to become both racing stars and musical idols.

The game puts us in the shoes of a coach who must ensure that these girls achieve their goals. We must train them and make sure they improve their attributes to perform well in races, but also to do well in dance and singing exhibitions, to finally help our favorite horse-girl reach the top. Becoming the top idol in the world.

All of this sounds strange. And it is. But the reality is that it combines many elements that make it very addictive if one decides to give it a chance. The character development mechanics are deep, the mix of horse racing and gacha is a hellish dopamine dispenser, the girls are adorable, and the gameplay loop hooks you with great ease. This results in the fact that, despite it being difficult to give it a chance due to the peculiarity of its premise, it becomes very hard to abandon it once we have immersed ourselves in it.

A success that was to be expected, seeing how it has performed in Asia

In fact, upon its arrival in the West, the numbers it shows have not been a surprise. Both in Japan and South Korea, it is an extremely popular game, having reached the top of the most profitable mobile games for Cygames in recent years. An admirable feat given the tremendous competition they have in these countries.

Additionally, the game has sparked a renewed interest in horse racing. Or to be exact, in the horses of horse racing. For while the girls in the game are anime girls with adorable animal traits, they are inspired by real racehorses. This has led many people, especially in Japan, to create fan clubs or even make pilgrimages to meet their favorite horses. Thus creating a new paradigm that did not exist until now.

Because besides, Umamusume: Pretty Derby is a multimedia franchise. With several animes, mangas, and a theater play, it has proven to have the ability to attract a large audience. And now that it has arrived both on Steam and mobile platforms, iOS and Android, it is showing that it can also attract that same number of people in the West.

So don’t be surprised if you see people on social media talking about their favorite horse. They haven’t gone crazy nor have they fallen into the world of sports betting. Or it’s not likely to be that. They are probably talking about Umamusume: Pretty Derby, a game you can play for free on both PC and mobile devices, and it seems that it will continue to be a topic of conversation for a long time.

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