Two Vietnamese Publishers Race Around One Ant Puzzle Idea
See how two Vietnamese publishers competed around a shared ant puzzle idea through launch timing, product pacing, channel mix, and ad creative testing.
Emma Lee
Editorial Research Contributor
Published
Updated
CreativeScope Pattern Report
Food Hunt reached the market first. Colony Flow followed weeks later, scaled quickly, and turned a close product resemblance into an unusually visible publisher rivalry.
Key takeaways
- CreativeScope tracked 494 new creatives for Colony Flow! from June 15 to August 12 and 805 for Food Hunt from May 26 to August 12.
- Food Hunt ran a larger monitored creative library and relied more heavily on Unity. Colony Flow! had a larger share of monitored ad records on AppLovin and YouTube.
- Colony Flow! gives viewers time to follow each ant route. Food Hunt moves through the same loop with faster, denser multi-color clears.
- UA teams can test four clear angles around this mechanic: route clarity, speed, pressure, and completion.
Data scope
| Source | CreativeScope game profiles, investment trends, platform records, creative themes, material details, direct media, and Google Play listings |
|---|---|
| Colony Flow! window | June 15 to August 12, 2026 |
| Food Hunt window | May 26 to August 12, 2026 |
| Metric boundary | Creative and ad counts describe monitored records. Estimated exposure is directional and does not represent verified spend, ROAS, or daily impressions. |
A close race between two Vietnamese publishers
Food Hunt appeared first under FUNFINITY and EVERFUN store identities associated in industry coverage with VigaFun. Colony Flow followed under ABI GLOBAL and ABI GAMES, with TOP SOFTWARE listed in its Google Play developer information. Both products came from Vietnam's active casual game market and reached players within weeks of one another.
Industry reports later described a disagreement between the teams over how closely the games resemble one another. CreativeScope did not find a primary filing or a formal statement from either side, so this article does not assess that claim. The observable story is the competition that followed. Two publishers backed a similar idea, expanded their ad libraries, and began emphasizing different parts of the same play loop.
Both games ask the player to select a colored, numbered box from a queue. Matching ants leave the box, travel to the picture, remove pixels of the same color, and return. A limited holding area creates the failure condition. The loop combines color sorting, capacity management, and a visible picture-clearing reward.
The store descriptions explain the mechanic in similar terms, but the videos emphasize different parts of the experience. Colony Flow! spends more time on the ants' routes. Viewers can follow a swarm around the image, watch one color disappear, and see why the number on a box is going down. Food Hunt gets from tap to payoff much faster. Several colors remain active at once, the image shrinks quickly, and progress rarely pauses.
That choice changes the feel of the ad. Colony Flow! turns the route and queue into a light planning problem. Food Hunt puts the speed and density of the clear front and center.
The rivalry continued in creative testing
CreativeScope recorded 805 new Food Hunt creatives across 78 days with data. The largest daily batch was 75 new creatives on July 7. Colony Flow! recorded 494 new creatives across 56 days with data, with a peak of 54 on June 16. These are monitored creative records, not production files or spend totals. They indicate how quickly each campaign added new ads to its rotation.
| Observed signal | Colony Flow! | Food Hunt |
|---|---|---|
| New creatives | 494 | 805 |
| Reused creative records | 56 | 106 |
| Ad records | 767 | 1,108 |
| Peak new-creative day | 54 on June 16 | 75 on July 7 |
| Google Play download increment in covered window | 1.35M across 59 observed days | 1.96M across 76 observed days |
Download increments cover Google Play only. The actual coverage begins June 15 for Colony Flow! and May 29 for Food Hunt, even though the requested reporting windows begin earlier.
The publishers spread their campaigns differently
AdMob had the largest monitored share for both games. Beyond AdMob, the mix looked quite different. AppLovin and YouTube accounted for larger shares of Colony Flow!'s records, while Unity made up a much larger share for Food Hunt. These shares do not tell us which channel performed better. They show where each campaign needed enough ads for testing and rotation.
Their ads began to separate the products
The tagged sample points in the same direction. Food Hunt had more creatives tagged for instant feedback, completion, level display, rewards, and excitement. Colony Flow! stayed closer to cute visuals, a relaxed mood, and a clear explanation of the mechanic. Tags can overlap and do not cover every creative, so these counts describe patterns in the monitored sample rather than fixed categories.
| Creative tag | Colony Flow! | Food Hunt |
|---|---|---|
| Instant feedback | 13 tagged creatives | 58 tagged creatives |
| Cute style | 20 | 54 |
| Completion | 6 | 30 |
| Level display | 6 | 30 |
| Gameplay-mechanic content | 21 | 83 |
Creative Spotlight
These four videos show what each campaign chose to emphasize. Estimated exposure is included as a relative indicator of reach during each creative's monitored run.
CF-01 · Clear routes and visible pressure
The full board stays on screen while red and blue swarms move around the watermelon. Because the pixels disappear slowly, viewers can follow the color choice and see the queue filling up.
CF-02 · Real ants lead into the game
A short clip of real ants introduces the swarm behavior before the ad cuts to the game. The opening gives viewers a familiar image, then shows them how that idea works as a puzzle.
FH-01 · Continuous clearing as the main reward
The rainbow pattern keeps several colors moving in quick succession. The image is always shrinking, so the progress is easy to read without any extra explanation.
FH-02 · Faster swarms with less route detail
Several swarms clear the taco at the same time. The ad spends little time explaining individual paths and keeps the board moving, making speed the main attraction.
CreativeScope Take
Colony Flow! uses its ant theme to explain the action. Viewers can see why the pixels move and why each color matters before they have learned every rule.
Food Hunt assumes the mechanic will be understood quickly and puts more weight on pace. That leaves several useful angles for testing: rapid multi-color clearing, deliberate route planning, a queue that is one slot from failure, and the final reveal of a completed picture. Each angle changes the appeal of the ad without changing the underlying game loop.
For publishers working in fast-moving casual categories, this rivalry also shows the limit of launch timing. Reaching the store first can establish an early audience, while a fast follower can still compete through distribution, creative volume, and a slightly different feel. The longer contest depends on whether players can recognize those differences in the ad and feel them in the game.
What UA teams should test next
| Variable | Version A | Version B | Keep constant |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening promise | Real-ant curiosity | Immediate pixel clearing | Same level and end card |
| Pacing | One color at a time | Several colors in parallel | Same picture and queue |
| Tension | Clean completion | One slot from failure | Same duration and CTA |
| Visual payoff | Detailed transport motion | Fast picture collapse | Same opening frame |
Where downstream data is available, compare the opening hook with post-click quality. A faster clear may hold attention in the first few seconds, but it may also set a different expectation for the pace of the game. Read the hook response alongside post-click behavior instead of judging it on its own.
Track the pattern beyond two games
CreativeScope lets UA and creative teams compare live ads, channel activity, creative themes, and individual executions across mobile games.
Explore CreativeScope MCP or browse more analysis on the CreativeScope Blog.
FAQ
Why are Colony Flow! and Food Hunt being discussed together?
They reached the market within weeks of one another and share a closely related color-selection, numbered-box, ant-swarm, and pixel-clearing loop. This article focuses on how the publishers separated their products and campaigns after launch.
Does a larger creative count prove better performance?
No. Creative count shows how many ads appeared in the monitored set. It does not prove higher ROAS, lower CPI, or stronger retention.
Why use estimated exposure in the Creative Spotlight cards?
Estimated exposure offers a relative view of reach across monitored creatives. It is not verified spend and should not be treated as an exact performance metric.
What is the main creative lesson from these two campaigns?
Even an easy-to-understand mechanic can support different ad angles. UA teams can test route clarity, clearing speed, failure pressure, and the completed-picture payoff separately.
Sources and notes · CreativeScope data through August 12, 2026. Google Play was used to verify current Android listings and publisher-facing game descriptions. Related reading: Amaze GO UA teardown.
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