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Umamusume: Pretty Derby now Steam Deck Playable / SteamOS Compatible and works on Desktop Linux

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Last updated: 16 Jul 2025 at 1:52 pm UTC

Another game with anti-cheat that released on Steam recently is Umamusume: Pretty Derby. Valve just rated it Steam Deck Playable / SteamOS Compatible.

What is it? This Anime gacha game is all about magical girl horse racing. You recruit various characters for your team, get them training and compete in races. In between there's lots of visual-novel style animated chatter, with plenty of voice acting too. It's a thoroughly weird concept but as an Anime fan, I've seen a lot stranger than this. It also looks surprisingly…good?

Clearly popular too with a peak player count of 48,266 in the last 24 hours and a Very Positive rating on Steam.

It uses "CrackProof" kernel-level anti-cheat so it's pleasing to see the developer Cygames, Inc. has enabled it for Linux platforms. Valve tested it with the latest stable Proton 9.0-4 for their verification and the only thing holding it back from being Verified according to Valve is that some text can be a bit small on the Steam Deck screen.

As usual for GamingOnLinux, I like to first-hand verify everything I possibly can that I report on. And despite complete information overload when going through all the tutorials, it works with no problems on Steam Deck.


Pictured - Umamusume: Pretty Derby on Steam Deck

Testing it myself also on Desktop Linux (Kubuntu 25.04) with Proton 9.0-4, it also worked completely out of the box. No launch options needed, no changes to the Proton version. Just completely click and play with the defaults which is really great to see.


Pictured - Umamusume: Pretty Derby on Linux

Just be aware if you decide to try it that once it's downloaded and launched, it then needs to do an additional in-game download before you can actually play it.

See the original release trailer below:

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Even if this style of game is not your personal go-to, it's important to see as many of these working as possible. It only takes one or two games not working to prevent someone being comfortable using Linux, SteamOS / Steam Deck.

Nice to see more games with anti-cheat get enabled like this along with Lost Ark, Wuthering Waves, Blue Archive and The Finals getting confirmed to continue support. A shame games like the upcoming skate. will not work though.

Keep up with it all on our dedicated anti-cheat compatibility page for Linux platforms.

Umamusume: Pretty Derby | Release Date: 25th May 2025

Official links:

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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About the author -
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly checked on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. You can also follow my personal adventures on Bluesky.
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2 comments Subscribe

inlinuxdude 5 hours ago
No matter how fun it may be, as a 50+ year old man, I just can't bring myself to try out a game about racing "horse girls"..
fenglengshun 3 hours ago
I'm pretty sure it already worked on day one, as I went to an in-person gathering for the event and saw someone running it on Steam Deck (but it might have been Ally X). I myself play it on Bazzite, though only a week later, as I spent around a week rerolling on phone (you can't reroll on PC).

Regardless, the game is REALLY fun. You don't really get it just doing the tutorial. You start a career... And then everything clicks. The game is deceptively simple. At the heart, it's an athlete sports management game. You get to raise the girls' stats through training, acquire skills that works well with their races, while balancing between racing, training, resting, and recreation (plus healing, if you messed up). Then... You watch them race. And boy does it work - it's really tense as you hope she wins, and while I was initially meh on the idol aspect, as soon as I got invested in the girls I am on-board with seeing them at the center of the stage.

In any case, this game has been consuming ALL of my algorithm (and friends IRL and online). Even my Instagram recommendation feed is all Uma even though I barely play it. After Blue Archive being pretty rough, I was afraid this would have issues, but Cygames remains pretty good with the first ShadowVerse, ShadowVerse Worlds Beyond, and now this.

Still, it does mean I am once again a Cygames slave, with me playing nothing but SVWB (just got Master) and Uma for the past month.
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