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umamusume is, by many measures, already one of the most popular horse games ever. except… it’s not really about horses. this has left gaming’s premiere horse consultant and advocate, @malicedafirenze.bsky.social, in a bind
![Ruppert has spent years of her career trying to get gaming companies to take horses seriously and running The Mane Quest, a site dedicated to video game horses. The fact is, many games mess up horses to an almost comedic degree – whether we’re talking their legs or their testicles – and the ones that focus on equine excursions first and foremost don’t tend to boast the biggest budgets or best development pedigrees. This typically relegates them to a niche. But now, finally, a horse game for the masses has appeared. Umamusume is already, per Ruppert’s own estimate, "by far the most well-known and well-reviewed game focused on equestrian sports.” Problem is, it’s only sort of a horse game.
"I have supremely mixed feelings,” Ruppert, who has said that Umamusume’s popularity relative to more traditional horse games is going to turn her into The Joker, told Aftermath. “It's not that I don't think this should exist, and I don't think it's bad that people are having fun with a silly sports game that features girls as horses. I do very much see the harmless fun in it. … [But] it's not about horses, which is usually what my criteria for something being a horse game is. But it is very much within that world of horse racing. It is very much inspired by real horse racing."](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5gdejlhcswjbzraadoltdpps/bafkreiamfauefwvkuywfucwtmchfs2n4esxme5wak6k6qnmwiix5yo2kfe@jpeg)
July 16, 2025 at 10:23 PM
umamusume is, by many measures, already one of the most popular horse games ever. except… it’s not really about horses. this has left gaming’s premiere horse consultant and advocate, @malicedafirenze.bsky.social, in a bind
Reposted by escarghost
July 16, 2025 at 6:15 AM
July 16, 2025 at 6:12 AM