Ukrainian Game Outranks Among Us, Roblox, and Other Hits in the Local App Store

The puzzle game Colorwood Words, created in 2024 by the Ukrainian product tech company Burny Games, has topped the iPhone game rankings in the Ukrainian App Store, surpassing global hits. Notably, this happened shortly after the game received its Ukrainian localization. At the end of June 2025, the game was competing for first place with the legendary Among Us. The company reported this to Scroll.media.

“We’ve often noticed elements of our games appearing in competitors’ products – and we’ve taken it as a compliment to our team. Though, of course, our lawyer had a different opinion. But taking first place in the Ukrainian App Store (iOS) and reaching the top 5 on Google Play (Android) speaks for itself: players see us as a high-quality product. And that’s the most inspiring part. We created the Ukrainian version of the game with great love – and achieved strong results. I hope our example inspires other Ukrainian developers to make games for Ukrainians as well,” – summarized Burny Games CEO Anatolii Henis.

About Colorwood Words

Colorwood Words is a cryptogram game with a pleasant visual style, a warm wooden setting, and educational content. The player’s task is to decrypt sentences by inserting missing letters.

Recently, the game received full Ukrainian localization – from the interface and marketing creatives to a large dictionary filled with memes, idioms, and cultural references.

According to the developers, the highlight is that the game “speaks” Ukrainian with humor, recognizable expressions, and rich cultural context. Players can solve meme-based quotes, discover a borscht recipe from Yevhen Klopotenko, or learn a few strong words – all in a light, gamified format.

The game’s Ukrainian adaptation – one of the key success factors

As of July 2025, the game has been downloaded nearly 2 million times. Within just a few weeks of the Ukrainian localization launch, downloads in Ukraine alone reached 70,000. The most active cities are Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Odesa, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, and Ternopil.

The main audience of Colorwood Words is in the USA, Germany, the UK, Canada, and France. Although the Ukrainian market is usually not considered profitable due to low ARPU, this case proved that content created with precise cultural targeting works, the company says.

“We always focus on content – it determines how engaging the game will be and whether players will want to come back. The Ukrainian version evokes strong emotions because we added what truly resonates with our audience. Colorwood Words is balanced in everything: thoughtful, unobtrusive design, a fun assistant character called Nana Banana, and seven original ambient music tracks that enhance the experience. The results and first-place ranking prove that betting on quality was the right decision,” – said Colorwood Words producer Mariia Myronenko.

The next step for the team is adapting the game for other markets. Plans include localized campaigns for Turkey, Spain, and other countries, where the game will be able to “speak” the local language, tone, and mood.

The game was created in a record 50 working days, and since launch, its retention rate has doubled. The team continuously adds new events, special levels, and fresh content. Currently, each language version has over 1,000 levels, while the English version – more than 2,000.

The game is available for download on the App Store and Google Play.

About Burny Games

Burny Games is a Ukrainian product tech company founded in 2022. It specializes in mobile puzzle games, with its flagship Colorwood Sort having 26 million downloads and over 50% day-one retention. Other notable projects include Colorwood Words, Colorwood Blocks, and Playdoku.

Since 2022, the company has grown into the most dynamic mobile game developer in Ukraine. As of May 2025, total downloads have exceeded 48 million, with a monthly active player base of 5 million. Revenue for 2024 increased fivefold. The team now consists of 120 specialists.

Earlier, we reported how Burny Games organized an internal AI-powered prototype competition, during which the team created 21 games in 14 days.