January 09, 2016
Contributed Art/Hey, Inc.
Stolen!, the new invite-only app game taking the Internet by storm, is described by founder Siqi Chen as "literally the worst."
Anyone who has ever fallen prey to app games like Candy Crush, Farmville and Trivia Crack knows very well there's an inherent risk that your innocent, time-killing recreation can quickly devolve into a full-blown obsession that leaves you at the mercy of ridicule from friends and family, or even worse.
The latest sensation to sweep the Internet, a virtual currency-based game known as 'Stolen!', has left its entrepreneurial creator in a tailspin after the beta version recently launched in feverish fashion, according to Fortune.
Siqi Chen, CEO of Hey, Inc., created 'Stolen!' after a series of promising apps, including photo organizer HeyDey, failed to garner mainstream appeal despite $7.5 million in venture funding.
The premise of 'Stolen!' is fairly simple: users spend virtual currency to "buy" and "steal" famous people from others playing the game. If you're high on Barack Obama, or anyone else with or without a name, for that matter, you can scoop them up and – well, that's pretty much it. Via Fortune:
It’s a free-form mix of a stock market, a Facebook poke, and baseball trading cards, with lots of fun, flashing gold coins. People choose who they want to “own” for any number of reasons – bragging rights, a bet on someone’s price going up, a way to show off their taste, or to mess with their friends.
Looking to rebound, Chen posted the Twitter-enabled beta version of the game on Product Hunt earlier this month and its popularity immediately soared, landing in the Apple App Store's top 50 social networking apps and in the top 200 overall.
The game "set our servers on fire," according to Chen, who restricted 'Stolen!' to invite-only status after the company's 800 entry codes per night started disappearing within three minutes. Even though the game was designed to be played here and there, as a distraction, more than 70 percent of its users have been online at the same time, generating 10,000 action requests per second.
Things have gotten so out of hand that invite codes popped up on eBay for $35 and the #stolencode hashtag has been tweeted once every minute.
i have 2 stolen codes what do you offer ? #StolenCode #StolenApp
— •°•°.•°.°.•°•. (@mysoulmgc) January 9, 2016
.@gstuto proof in the screenshot. Retweet now if you want a chance at a code #stolencode #StolenApp pic.twitter.com/YfCN6PJqhr
— Giuseppe Stuto (@gstuto) January 8, 2016
GUYS MY FINGERS ARE ABOUT TO FALL OFF FROM DMING SO MUCH SETTLE DOWN JUST KEEP RTING AND YOU WILL GET YOURS! #StolenCode #StolenApp
— FREE STOLEN CODES (@_stolen_codes_1) January 7, 2016
This has been some year. Here's to the future. #stolenapp http://t.co/pXSvzjH0XQ
— Pepe De La Fuente (@EnigmaticHiC) December 31, 2013
Chen and his team have reportedly been sleeping in their office in order to prevent the game, and their company, from crashing. They predict 'Stolen!' can only last another month or two in its current version before greater capacity and a chat moderation upgrades help stabilize the madness.
But really, the best part about 'Stolen!' is the game description Hey, Inc. provides on its iTunes Store page:
"You need a code to get in, but it's okay this is app is ngl [not gonna' lie] literally the worst. We're sorry we made it. Every other app is better get those instead."
Next time somebody gives you grief over your fantasy football addiction, you'll know just where to direct them to prove that things could be much, much worse.
The only game where "Stolen!" truly belongs, forever, is 'NBA Jam.'
