Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, has the president on speed dial. He could buy and sell you and me like action figures at a yard sale.
He’s also obsessed with trying to impress gamers — and it just backfired spectacularly.
This drama has been simmering for a while but hit full steam earlier this month when Musk, now a proud Texan, livestreamed himself playing the action role playing game “Path of Exile 2.”
Despite the Tesla CEO’s attempts to show off, the livestream became a masterclass in how to blow up your gaming street cred faster than a SpaceX rocket.
This is objectively hilarious because Musk, 53, has cast himself as a hardcore gamer for years; he’s professed his love for the uber-tough “Elden Ring,” and he’s crowed to Joe Rogan about being a top-ranked player in “Diablo IV.”
The whole thing made headlines as news outlets like The Guardian and The New York Times reported that Elon admitted to cheating in “Path of Exile 2,” resulting in gamers turning against him.
So why is this a big deal? The short answer is that it’s not — except that it exposes Musk’s cherished identity of the uber nerd who made good and replaces it with something much less flattering: the rich poseur.
Now, if you’re not familiar with these games, you simply need to know that they take a lot of playing time to acquire the best equipment. As in hundreds, even thousands of hours, especially at the rarefied levels that Musk claimed to be playing in. Gamers refer to it as “grinding,” and many were initially impressed with Musk’s braggadocio.
“He could go anywhere and do anything and he has apparently chosen to spend an inordinate number of hours grinding for loot in ‘Diablo IV,’” wrote Kotaku’s Ethan Gach.
But people started wondering: did he really?
Because, given all of Elon’s day jobs (and 12 children) and his high-profile role in the new Trump administration, it seemed implausible to many that he’d also have the time to put into playing these games at a high level.
It turns out, he didn’t. Musk’s gamer cred came crashing down to Earth this month when he decided to show off his “Path of Exile 2” skills (such that they were). Many gamers noticed that he didn’t seem to be very comfortable playing the game, which was odd (to say the least) considering how well-geared and high-level his character was. To put it another way, it would be like a champion F1 driver having trouble backing out of the driveway. Accusations of dishonesty ensued.
Finally, the YouTuber NikoWrex exposed the truth by sharing his DMs with Musk, who admitted to some shenanigans.
In the messages, Musk copped to using account boosting, justifying it by saying that everyone does it. He even dropped a “100%” emoji when asked if he paid people to grind for him.
“It’s impossible to beat the players in Asia if you don’t,” Musk argued, casually throwing an entire continent’s gaming prowess into his defense.
It’s also funny to note that account sharing violates terms of service for “Path of Exile 2.” When asked if he planned to apologize to the community, Musk replied, “What would I be apologizing for?”
As the gamers clamored at the gates, one of Elon’s baby mammas (of which there are many) rushed to his defense. The musician Grimes vouched for her ex, saying that she personally can testify to some of his accomplishments.
“I did observe these things with my own eyes,” she posted on X. “There are other witnesses who can verify this.”
But “trust me” is no match for the hard-won experience of gamers, who can smell a fake a mile away. Several prominent gamers have noted that Musk doesn’t play like someone with thousands of hours of experience.
“Path of Exile 2” streamer Quin69 previously accused Musk of hiring someone to play his account.
He called Musk “truly pathetic” for bragging about his now-seemingly-disproven gaming skills.
The well-known streamer Kripparrian posted a video of Elon’s gameplay, where he observed that Musk was “absolutely clueless” in playing the game.
“Playing his totally self-made character,” said Kripparrian, whose real name is Octavian Morosan, using finger quotes and dripping sarcasm.
The popular gaming Youtuber Asmongold also doubted Elon’s prowess in a video titled, “Elon Musk is not getting away with this.”
“I’m a huge fan of Elon Musk, but this is embarrassing and very silly,” said Asmongold, aka Zack Hoyt. “It makes him look bad and it’s for absolutely no reason. It’s of no consequence and it achieves no goal.”
To get some perspective, The Barbed Wire spoke to UK-based gaming journalist Jennifer Young, who has covered the controversy. Young plays a lot of “Diablo IV” and said she “always doubted his ‘top 20 players’ in the world ranking.”
“Elon flew too close to the sun trying to kid people over ‘Path of Exile 2,’ which is infinitely more complex and requires actual grind,” she said. “The kind of grind many of us with one job can’t hack, let alone someone having six.”
What really blew Musk’s cover, Young said, was the extremely inefficient way he played.
“Those who play these APRGs at the levels he was boasting … play as efficiently as possible with minimal messing around in town and with your inventory,” she said.
Musk did none of that, instead fumbling around with the inventory screens and generally coming off like a newbie. “A guy manually dragging items into his bags or not clearing his inventory before levels is not a top-level player,” Young said.
So why did Elon do it? Why would he be so arrogant as to think he could snow gamers, especially ones who play the same game he allegedly mastered?
“I’m really aghast. Someone boasting about their game credentials isn’t that deep, really, but it is funny when a billionaire feels the need to do it,” Young said. “I really don’t know what his motivation is, or why he has to make such unrealistic claims. Whoopi Goldberg having an outburst about wanting ‘Diablo IV’ on her Mac was infinitely cooler and more relatable than what he has done.”
So what have we learned? When it comes to gaming, even the richest man alive can’t buy his way out of being called a n00b.