More than one year has passed since Umamusume: Pretty Derby made its worldwide debut on June 26, 2025, and Cygames have prepared a big update right in time for the game’s 1.5-year anniversary celebration. Coming July 22, the version update will bring the much-anticipated Independent Training feature to the English version of the game, as well as other major QoL updates and the brand-new Career Scenario Brighter Together: Our Grand Concert.
Ahead of the update, AUTOMATON had the opportunity to conduct an e-mail interview with the Umamusume developers at Cygames and ask them more about the new feature, how it works, and what players should expect from the new Career Scenario.
—First, could you briefly introduce the Independent Training feature?
Independent Training is a feature that allows Umamusume to be trained while you enjoy other parts of the game, or even while the game is closed. Initiate Independent Training when starting a Career playthrough, and it will automatically finish after a set amount of time.
—Why did you decide to develop the Independent Training feature?
The game Umamusume: Pretty Derby was released in Japan in 2021. At that time, there was an increased demand for stay-at-home entertainment, including video games, but in the five years since, many people’s everyday lives and lifestyles have greatly changed. This new Independent Training feature was implemented with the goal of both improving the gaming experience of long-time trainers and lowering the barrier to entry for prospective new players.
—The Independent Training feature is set to be released simultaneously across all language versions, which is unusually early for the English version. Could you tell us the reason behind this decision?
The release of the Independent Training feature was moved up so players overseas could experience this quality-of-life improvement as soon as possible. We’d love it if trainers could spread the word about this new feature and how it’s made the game more accessible.
—Initially, some English version players were disappointed to hear that the new feature would be released for the Japanese, Chinese, and Korean versions of the game first; though many others were pretty understanding about it – saying that, since the English version still isn’t caught up with the Japanese one, it would be difficult to implement it so quickly from a development standpoint. Was there any additional work you had to do or adjustments you had to make in order to implement Independent Training into the English version?
To be honest, it was a difficult undertaking. With about four years’ worth of updates separating the Japanese version and the English version, implementing Independent Training into the latter took some time. However, our team came together and did their best to give trainers around the world a better gaming experience. Of course, not every feature could be made available immediately in the English version, as certain other mechanics are not yet released, so please look forward to those in future updates.
—In which of the Career Scenarios will the Independent Training feature become available?
Independent Training will be made available for all previously released Career Scenarios, as well as the Brighter Together: Our Grand Concert Scenario that will be released along with the game’s 1.5-year anniversary.
—So, just like the regular Career mode, Independent Training is also based around building a deck of support cards?
Yes, that is correct.
—If you fail to reach your objectives in the Independent Training mode, does that mean that the training will end early? In order to avoid unsuccessful training, are there any options to use the Alarm Clock to continue, or to enter races even when you don’t have enough fans?
Goal races and objectives tied to each Scenario will be treated differently during Independent Training, with the Career continuing to progress even if certain objectives are not met. In addition, with the exception of a few races, agendas can be scheduled prior to starting Independent Training. Of course, trainers who want more control over their Career playthrough can still work hand-in-hand with their trainees instead of using Independent Training.
—After completing Independent Training, is it possible to view the gameplay logs – for example, the history of choices made during training, or the races the Umamusume participated in?
Once Independent Training is complete, trainers can view Career results, obtained skill hints, and Sparks as they would after a normal Career playthrough.
—Which stats are prioritized with the Independent Training’s default settings?
Trainers can set either Balanced, Stamina, or Sprint as their attribute growth training focus. Different training focus settings will result in different attribute gains at the end of Independent Training.
—Does the Independent Training feature allow you to set which skills to prioritize? And if it doesn’t, could you tell us about the criteria used to determine the priority of acquired skills?
Trainers can set which skill hints to prioritize acquiring during Independent Training, and Career Event choices that provide these skill hints will automatically be chosen. Up to ten skills can be prioritized this way.
—How did you balance the new feature compared to the standard Career mode? For example, are there any differences in manual training results compared to Independent Training results?
Training results can differ greatly for each trainer. However, as a general rule, manual training will result in much stronger Veteran Umamusume compared to Independent Training.
—What aspects of the Independent Training feature do you consider its greatest strength from a developers’ viewpoint?
As mentioned previously, the greatest strength of Independent Training is its ability to train Umamusume while the game is closed. That said, Independent Training is meant to be a quality-of-life feature, and we would strongly recommend trainers to give the new Grand Concert Scenario a try themselves first. Independent Training is great for trainers who would like to train more Veteran Umamusume even when they have little or no time to play.
—The new Career Scenario Brighter Together: Our Grand Concert has already been out for a while in Japan, but could you tell us once again what kind of story we can expect now that it’s coming to the global version of the game?
Brighter Together: Our Grand Concert is a new Career Scenario where you train Umamusume to succeed not only in racing, but in concerts as well. What do live performances mean to Umamusume, who are born to run? Performing in a winning concert is a dream come true, but is there any point if you’re not center stage? Looking for the answers to these questions, players will get to join event producer Light Hello as they aim to make the Grand Concert a hit!
—What do you consider to be some of the unique aspects of the Grand Concert Scenario?
The ultimate goal in this new Career Scenario is to make the Grand Concert a great success. As you carry out training, you will accumulate Performance Points and learn new songs. These can be used to achieve great success at each of the four Promo Concerts, which are key to raising your attributes.
There’s only so much time to train in a single Career playthrough, so finding the optimal balance between efficient training and gaining the Performance Points you need is what makes the Grand Concert Scenario unique and fun.
—What do you think is the highlight of the story?
For Umamusume, concerts are an avenue for expressing gratitude to their fans.
The new Career Scenario will allow players to witness the passion each Umamusume pours into concerts, watch over their growth, and aim to make the Grand Concert the best event it can be.
—A whole year has passed since the launch of the English version of Umamusume, and the game has been called a huge success, but what are your impressions of it so far? Are there any memorable moments that made you feel the hype surrounding it?
When we first released the English version of Umamusume: Pretty Derby, we had no idea how a game based on real-life Japanese horse racing would be received overseas.
However, since then we have received overwhelming praise and support for both the game’s dramatic writing and its strategic mechanics, both based on real-life horse racing. We’d also like to thank our fans for keeping the community lively with discussions and fan art on social media platforms. We were honored to meet so many passionate trainers in person at the recently held Anime Expo in Los Angeles, as well. Everyone’s love of our game has reached us, so we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
—Finally, could you send a message to all the Umamusume trainers out there?
Trainers around the world, thank you once again for your continued support of Umamusume: Pretty Derby. Your love for the game inspires our team to keep bringing you the best experience possible.
Currently, the first-ever Umamusume world tour is underway. With the Tokyo stop wrapped up, the tour will continue on to Los Angeles, London, Seoul, and Yokohama.
We hope that trainers everywhere will continue to enjoy the world of Umamusume as told through all kinds of media, including the games, the anime, the music, and more. There’s a lot more in store for the future too, so please look forward to it.
—Thank you for your time.
Umamusume: Pretty Derby is out now for PC (Steam), iOS and Android.
