Umamusume: Pretty Derby’s latest update is all about gambling on one card

Umamusume: Pretty Derby has just gotten its second major update, bringing the “Brand New Friends” storyline to the game. But there’s no time for that, because there’s gacha to gamble on, and disappointment to be had.

Brand New Friends brings in a new storyline for you to read and watch, as well as new idol concerts if that’s your bag. You’ll also need to run the career mode to earn points and complete tasks for the event, earning you additional rewards and another chance to spin that infernal bingo roulette mini-game.

They put a little hat on Mejiro McQueen

The update introduces new versions of characters, including Beyond the Horizon Tokai Teio and End of the Skies Mejiro McQueen. From the surface, it just seems like they have quite literally put a new hat on McQueen, but the abilities the two horse girls possess are different. There’s also some slight difference in stats, for all those spreadsheet lovers out there.

It also brings new Scout Cards, which help you in the career mode. Alongside “The Will to Overtake” Satono Diamond, this update notably includes the “Fire at My Heels” version of the Kitasan Black card. Since the game’s launch in the West, part of the community has been urging players to save up their “Carats” (the currency used to pull gacha), as it’s ranked as one of the best in the game. That’s even after four years in Japan, where the game is several updates ahead.

The rush to get the card has also hit home, as I’ve quickly depleted the 6500 carats I’d saved from the last week. My partner has also scolded me for even considering paying real money for a chance to own what’s essentially a JPEG of an anime horse girl. If this were five years ago, before I’d met them, you can bet anything that I’d have dumped cash in by now.

Gambling ahoy, as Umamusume doesn’t pity unlucky players

Unlike other gacha, Umamusume doesn’t feature a true “pity system”. As it sounds, it’s the software taking “pity” on us lowly addicts by kicking the promised goods our way, after we’ve failed. Umamusume increases the rate of its Special Rare (SR) cards and two-star horses to 97% if you press the pull 10 times button, but doesn’t do the Genshin Impact thing of boosting percentages for its ultra rare options.

Instead, Pretty Derby has a trade system, where after acquiring 200 points from 200 pulls, you can simply straight up acquire the card in question. It’s a one-to-one system, so if you pull once, you get one Support Exchange Point to add to your collection. At the end of the banner, you don’t get to roll it over, and they’re whisked away from you in exchange for yet another currency.

Let’s break this all down a little. Using the 10 pull option at 1500 Carats, that’s the equivalent of $19.99 a pop. That’s nearly $400 to just potentially acquire the meta if you’re unlucky. This is thanks in part to the card everyone wants, that Kitasan Black, which has a 0.5% chance of dropping in total. There’s no boost for 10 pulls, it’s a flat 0.5% chance you can get that card from the gacha before you give in and just trade up for it. 

If you wanted to save up by simply playing the game, that’s doable, with 20 free Carats given daily if you beat all the daily missions. There are also various tasks to accomplish that’ll award you Carats in surprisingly fast ways, but if you’re like me and have spent time grinding, they’re few and far between after a while. Especially if you have a few nasty, unsuccessful runs in the rogue-lite career mode.

Over $6.6 million spent on Pretty Derby

It’s no wonder, then, that the game has surpassed $6.6 million outside of Japan in its first month in the West so far. The US is the biggest spender, with $4.3 million, while Canadians and UK-ians are much more conservative in spending, with $335,000 and $320,000 respectively.

According to PocketGamer.biz and AppMagic, since the worldwide launch, Umamusume has brought in around $16 million in Japan alone. It’ll probably be some time before the West breaks those kinds of numbers, if ever.

So why is Kitasan Black so good?

Kitasan Black is an excellent card to boost speed training, but is also actively better than the other cards in the same field. While it might be marginal numbers on the surface, even one or two points extra can mean a win in the game.

The card also gets much better than the others once you start “uncapping” it. Once you boost it to max level and have pulled another of the same Kitasan Black card, you can increase its power by resetting it to a more powerful version.

However, it’s also fairly consistent at appearing in the game and has decent events to boost mood, so your horse girl does better in races.