Ready Player One ending explained: How do the High-5 find Halliday's easter egg?

Ready Player One, based on Ernest Cline's novel, feels unlike anything Steven Spielberg has ever worked on. It mainly happens in a virtual world that the characters inhabit. However, even in its CGI-laden storytelling, this 2018 sci-fi action flick showed good winning over evil against insurmountable odds and had a few life lessons peppered along the way. Its plot synopsis reads,

"The film is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse. But the people have found salvation in the OASIS, an expansive virtual reality universe created by the brilliant and eccentric James Halliday (Mark Rylance). WhenHalliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune to the first person to find a digital Easter egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS, sparking a contest that grips the entire world. When an unlikely young hero named Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) decides to join the contest, he is hurled into a breakneck, reality-bending treasure hunt through a fantastical universe of mystery, discovery, and danger."

Set in 2045, this dystopian thriller is filled with pop culture references. So, anyone nostalgic about them will surely have a field day with this movie. For others, it can be a fun escape into an adrenaline-fueled world.

At the end of Ready Player One, Wade wins the ultimate easter egg from Halliday after refusing to sign the contract for OASIS and starts running it with the High-5. However, he respects Halliday's lesson to not lose touch with the real world. It also marks the fall of Sorrento's evil IOI.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One. Readers' discretion is advised.

Why does Sorrento want OASIS in Ready Player One?

A still from the Ready Player One trailer (Image via YouTube/@WarnerBros)

Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) is driven by greed. That's why he decides to gain control of OASIS after the death of its creator, Halliday (Mark Rylance). OASIS, a virtual reality game, had become a staple for people hoping to escape their real lives. Hence, Sorrento wants to control it.

This is also why he sends his team of Sixers to find Wade (as avatar Parzival, played by Tye Sheridan) and his team of High-5, who find one of the three keys required to find Halliday's easter egg. Sorrento realizes that they are the strongest contenders for the win. So, defeating them would help him gain access to OASIS. Instead, he gets defeated.

How do Wade & High-5 find Halliday's easter egg?

Wade joins hands with other gunters AKA egg hunters, which include Samantha Cook / Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), Helen Harris / Aech (Lena Waithe), Zhou / Sho (Philip Zhao), and Toshiro Yoshiaki / Daito (Win Morisaki). They team up as they find the first Copper Key by thinking differently, despite the rules, unlike others.

Later, they find Jade Key by meeting a version of Kira (Perdita Weeks), the wife of the OASIS co-creator Ogden Morrow (Simon Pegg), who once had a relationship with Halliday. Soon, after fighting Sorrento's cronies and finding a hidden clue from an old game, High-5 leads Wade to secure the Crystal Key.

In the final scene of Ready Player One, Wade meets Anorak, Halliday's in-game avatar. However, despite Anorak's request, Wade refuses to sign the contract for OASIS. It shows that Wade is not on this adventure just for ownership like IOI, but instead, is pure-hearted.

This ending of Ready Player One also sheds light on Halliday's regret for not working on a meaningful real-life connection with his friend and the Curator, Morrow. That's why, per Halliday's lessons, Wade closes OASIS two days weekly so that people can be in the real world instead of being stuck in the never-ending vortex of nostalgia that the game provides.