Cygames has cancelled the two Uma Musume Pretty Derby concerts scheduled for Los Angeles this week, after the staff could not secure the U.S. visas needed for the production.
The shows were part of Uma Musume: Pretty Derby – 7th Event World Tour: The Stage, set for October 22 at 8:00 p.m. PDT and October 23 at 7:00 p.m. PDT at the Peacock Theater. The announcement came on Monday, a day after the staff said they had been notified the visas had not yet been approved and would give a final decision Monday night.
What the staff said
The statement says the team coordinated with everyone involved and explored every option to keep the dates, and that the visas could not be obtained. Both on-site and streaming tickets will be refunded. The staff also said they are working out what to do for "Trainers" who had planned to travel to Los Angeles in person, with details to come on the event site.
They apologised to fans, to the Uma Musume cast, to partner company staff and to everyone who had worked on the shows.
What the tour was meant to be
The World Tour opened in Tokyo on June 20 and 21, with Los Angeles, London, Seoul and Yokohama still to come. This was the first time the franchise's live musical events were going global, which raised the stakes on the Los Angeles dates in particular. A cancellation at the first overseas stop doesn't automatically affect the later ones, but it does put the schedule under a question mark. No new dates for Los Angeles have been announced.
The previous live event, 6th EVENT The New Frontier, ran in Saitama in May 2025 and again in October 2025.
Why visas, why now
The staff said they had been told on Sunday that the visas had not been approved. Two days before a show, that is not a lot of runway. Visa approval for a touring production sits outside the promoter's control, and when the venue has fixed dates, a processing delay becomes a cancellation.
Cygames found out late enough that the announcement had to be made in two stages: a warning on Sunday that approval hadn't come, then confirmation on Monday. That is not how a promoter wants to handle a show two days out.
The franchise behind it
Uma Musume Pretty Derby started as a mobile game that launched in February 2021 on iOS and Android, after a delay from an original winter 2018 window that the developers attributed to raising the game's quality. A PC version via DMM Games followed in March 2021.
The English release arrived on June 26, 2025, and the game won Best Mobile Game at The Game Awards 2025 in December. The premise is a world of horse girls, athletes with exceptional running ability who aim to become top idols and compete in the national entertainment event known as the Twinkle Series. Players act as both teacher and trainer at the Nihon Uma Musume Training Center Gakuen.
The franchise has been reaching well beyond Japan since the English launch, and live events were the next step. Losing the first overseas dates to paperwork rather than demand is a frustrating way to start that push, and the refunds will not cover flights already booked.
Source: Uma Musume Pretty Derby franchise’s official English website and X account, via Anime News Network
Featured image: The Stage World Tour Los Angeles visual, via Anime News Network.
