Children pounding away on virtual treadmills while a feed of AI slop scrolls in front of them. That was the picture that landed Roblox in hot water this week — and the company has now put a rule on the books to stop it.
In a notice to developers this week, Roblox Corporation said “games that reward ongoing media feed consumption” are no longer permitted in Roblox Kids and Select. The policy change arrives just days after a title called Steal an Egg exploded across the platform, drawing more than 500,000 concurrent players.
“This affects games that combine media feeds, autoplay, infinite scroll, autoscroll, and rewards or implied rewards for watching,” Roblox said.
What Steal an Egg actually made kids do
At its core it’s a livestock sim. You raise eggs. Nothing complicated about it.
The catch is that the raising part can be skipped entirely — you can just steal eggs from other players instead. That constant threat drives everyone to boost their speed stat, and there are exactly two routes to doing so: spend Robux, the currency purchased with real money, or hop on an in-game treadmill.
Those treadmills ship with a “feed” function. As your character jogs and the numbers tick upward, you doomscroll a bizarre TikTok knockoff packed with AI nonsense. Pay-to-win monetization, idle-game grinding and social media brain rot — all welded together into a single depressing package.
Everyone landed on the same comparison: “Fifteen Million Merits,” the Black Mirror episode in which people pedal stationary bikes facing screens they aren’t allowed to switch off. The parallel wasn’t much of a reach. Clips making the rounds on social media resembled the episode closely enough that the joke stopped functioning as one.
After the backlash, Steal an Egg was briefly pulled from the Roblox store. It has since returned, minus the feed feature.
The apology tour continues
On the guidelines update, a Roblox representative offered the following: “Roblox is built for fun and connection. As part of our ongoing commitment to providing age-appropriate experiences, we have updated our policies to help ensure games on Roblox reflect the safe, positive environment we aim to foster. We work closely with our creator community to provide clear guidance, and we regularly review and evolve our policies to stay consistent with that goal.”
Give that a second read, and it becomes clear the company’s week has involved far heavier matters than a treadmill controversy.
The U.S. Senate launched an investigation two weeks ago into Roblox over allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation of minors on the platform. “Over the past decade, police have arrested numerous individuals for committing serious acts of violence and harm against children they met via Roblox, including grooming, sexual abuse, kidnapping, rape, and even murder,” states a letter signed by Josh Hawley and Dick Durbin.
Similar investigations have been opened by numerous states. Roblox’s response has included ID checks and other precautionary measures aimed at predatory behavior.
The most popular game on the platform was also its worst look
This wasn’t some obscure experiment buried three pages into the catalog. Steal an Egg was the hottest thing on Roblox, half a million people playing simultaneously, with a core loop that taught children the path to getting ahead runs through either handing over money or staring at a feed until the counter climbs.
That design is now banned for the company’s youngest users. The game that spawned it remains live, treadmills included — just quieter.