Steal an Egg quickly became the most popular experience on Roblox, pulling in over 500,000 concurrent players and claiming the number one spot on the platform. However, the viral pet simulator was suddenly pulled offline on Monday afternoon amid mounting social media controversy over its gameplay mechanics.
What Happened in Steal an Egg?
In Steal an Egg, players collect and raise eggs that hatch into pets generating money every second, with rarer creatures earning higher payouts. Players operate from individual bases and can steal eggs from map biomes guarded by NPCs, or from other players on the server. Speed is a critical mechanic for success, which players can either purchase with real-world money or upgrade manually by using an in-game treadmill.
The treadmill feature includes a built-in Reels function allowing users to watch videos while grinding. Screenshots and video footage of this mechanic went viral on social media, with one YouTube video by Foltyn garnering 1.3 million views. Many onlookers compared the feature to the dystopian stationary bike mechanics seen in the Netflix series Black Mirror episode "Fifteen Million Merits."