At first glance, this claim seems unlikely. Elon Musk says that in addition to being the world's richest person, CEO of multiple companies, and a key advisor to President Trump, he is also a world-class video game player. .
This is a claim Musk has repeated for years. He has an account on the social media platform X dedicated to posting gameplay highlights. He has streamed with some of the world's top competitive video game players on platforms such as Twitch. He has even etched his name into the global leaderboards of certain games.
But last week, the community of gamers he had long tried to impress turned against him. It started with a livestream of Musk playing Path of Exile 2, a popular action role-playing game that is notoriously difficult. His gameplay appeared to be that of an amateur, even though his account showed that he had won one of the highest levels of the game.
Internet sleuths created YouTube videos and took part in Reddit threads to analyze his gameplay and expose the mistakes beginners make. Other gamers have noted that Musk's Path of Exile account has been active at times when Musk himself would not have been able to play, such as while attending Trump's inauguration on Monday morning. did. The status of Musk's account showed that he was logged into the game and in the “map,” so it's not certain, but it's clear that Musk's account status showed that he was logged into the game and in the “map” while Musk was sitting behind Trump. That means someone could have been playing the game. .
“How do you get there?” one streamer asked, watching a split screen of the game and Musk in the Capitol Rotunda where Trump was being sworn in. “Elon, how are you doing in the Sulfur Cave?”
Thousands of gamers accused X of “boosting” Musk's account, meaning they paid for upgrades on third-party websites or hired people to play on Musk's account. It was the equivalent of Stolen Courage in the game.
Whether it's launching a rocket or killing a Digital Goatman, the billionaire's actions rarely result in anything other than controversy. But for Musk, the “hardcore gamer” is an important part of the identity he's tried to project: a car tycoon, a space pioneer, a serial technology entrepreneur, a polymath's nerd.
Despite becoming one of the most powerful people in the Trump administration, he has gone to great lengths to show that he appreciates video game culture. And among Mr. Musk's very online and very male fans, good gaming skills are something to be admired.
“He really wants people to respect him,” said Rod Breslau, a longtime video game analyst and consultant. “He needs to be good at video games so he can be calm with all the fans, all the technology events, all the people in his technology, gamer, AI world.”
For years, Musk has pushed to raise his profile in the gaming world. According to Walter Isaacson's biography of the billionaire, Mr. Musk requested to appear in Cyberpunk 2077, the much-hyped futuristic video game series that debuted in 2020. (Mr. Musk's ex-girlfriend, Claire Boucher, is currently in a musical career as Grimes and is still in a relationship.) The three children played characters in the game. )
He's streaming himself playing Diablo 4, the brooding monster-slaying series that broke sales records upon release. And he praised the hit role-playing game Elden Ring, calling it “the most beautiful art I've ever seen” in a post on X.
However, hardcore gamers are skeptical. In 2022, Musk posted a photo of a “build” of an Elden Ring character, which raised eyebrows in the gaming community. Builds are different types of equipment that players can use to customize their characters. Fans of the game referred to this as a “garbage build,” which consisted of a series of nonsensical equipment choices made by people who had no idea how to play the game.
Musk spoke about his game in a November interview with famed podcaster Joe Rogan. Musk cited an unofficial leaderboard that shows him ranked among the top 20 Diablo 4 players in the world.
Gamers wondered how such a thing was possible. The amount of time required to acquire some of the items and abilities that Musk's game characters acquired (estimated to be as many as 10 hours of gameplay per day) likely did not fit with Musk's travel and event schedule.
Musk hit back at naysayers with posts about X (some of which he later deleted) and attacked some critics about his gaming abilities.
But a week ago, he admitted to gaming YouTube personality Nicholas Hayes that he had indeed grown his account.
In a message Hayes shared on a YouTube video, he asked the billionaire if he would give him a boost, and Musk responded with 100% emojis.
“Otherwise, it will be impossible to beat Asian players,” Musk said in a message. He then reposted the video to his X-feed. He did not respond to requests for comment.
In an interview with The New York Times, Hayes said he was not surprised by the revelation. He has played Diablo with Musk in the past and wonders whether the billionaire acquired his character's equipment himself or if another player gave it to him as a gift. I remembered the moment when I hinted that it might be the case.
“I mean, Elon Musk,” Hayes said. “If you play with him, you'll probably give him a lot.”
Still, Musk defended his fitness for the game, saying in a message to Hayes that boosting is common among elite Diablo players. And two of his children's mothers came to his defense.
“For my personal pride, my children's father stated that he was the first American Druid to clear out Jill's Slaughterhouse in Diablo, and that he finished that season as America's best.” I would like to,” Bucher wrote to X. One of the game's more difficult dungeon maps. “I have observed these things with my own eyes.”
Last week, Siobhan Gillis, who works with Musk at several of his companies and is the mother of his three children, posted a video of Musk playing Diablo. In her reply, she recalled a time when he played games for 17 hours on Christmas Day 2023.
“He took a break for a family meal and Christmas presents, but was too excited to sleep. So he spent the day spending time with his children and completing 17 hours of AoZ push work. “I spent both,'' she wrote about her challenge in Diablo. “It was so nice to see him having so much fun!”
Boosting violates the Diablo IV and Path of Exile 2 Terms of Use. However, the third-party upgrade market is robust, and players can choose from numerous websites to upgrade their accounts, most of which charge thousands of dollars.
A spokesperson for Blizzard, the publisher of Diablo, declined to comment. Path of Exile's publisher, Grinding Gear Games, did not respond to a request for comment.
Some Path of Exile players have known for decades that Musk is an avid gamer, including Dennis Fung, one of the first professional esports players. Some were disappointed to learn that they had paid to enhance their accounts.
In an interview, Fong said he played the video game Quake on the same Stanford server as Musk in the 1990s. (Mr. Musk was not a student.) “He was decent,” Mr. Fung said of Mr. Musk. Musk used the screen name Zip2, the name of his recently launched company. “Not one of the best in the world.”
When Musk boasted about his Diablo gameplay on X and Rogan's podcast last year, Fung said he wanted to believe it was true. This is because Diablo is generally considered to be an easy game without much competitive scenes. But when watching Path of Exile's gameplay, “it was clear that we had no idea what was going on,” Huang said.
Mr. Breslau said Mr. Musk reminds him of his teenage years. “He's a true gamer in that sense,” Breslau added.
