Cygames' Bizarre Uma Musume Collab: Turning Training Characters into 'Factory Shipments'

Recently, Uma Musume's collaboration with an arcade racing game sparked heated debates among players. In the game, 'Special Transfer' is a system where players get rid of unwanted characters by fulfilling specific orders. Because the process resembles a factory shipment, fans nicknamed it 'Shukka' (factory shipping).

In this collaboration, the characters placing these orders are replaced by NPCs from the arcade game. Players must 'ship' their trained horse girls to these NPCs to earn stamina potions and materials. This has raised questions about the game's lore: Cygames is notoriously strict about protecting 'horse owner rights' and the game's world-building, banning any fan-fiction depictions of four-legged horses or even the character for 'horse'. Introducing real-world racing elements now feels contradictory.

Community reactions are mixed. Some joke, 'Do they evolve into four-legged beasts once they reach the other world?' while others argue it's just a way to clear inventory. Regardless, the act of 'selling off' these characters to another game is seen by many as a bizarrely 'improper' factory-like transaction.