It turns out that while Elon Musk is an interplanetary visionary and, uh, Twitter (now X) chaos agent, his ventures into the world of gaming might be as authentic as a knockoff Liverpool FC shirt. Musk, who is desperate to solidify his gamer cred with the same fervor he uses to brand himself as a superhuman genius, is now being “outed” as possibly lying about his gaming skills, and the fallout is as juicy as it is absurd.
Last year, Musk proudly claimed on Joe Rogan’s podcast that he was one of the best Diablo IV players in the world—a statement so bold it practically required NPC applause. The leaderboards, perplexingly, confirmed his claim, skyrocketing Musk’s relatability to the gaming community. Finally, a billionaire who not only builds rockets but also spends time mowing down monsters with the speed and intensity of his Tesla production deadlines! Except … Musk’s live-streamed gameplay on January 7 painted a very different picture.
Streaming Path of Exile 2—which, for the uninitiated, is like Diablo IV’s highly caffeinated younger sibling—Musk’s avatar was decked out in gear so fancy that even pro streamers who grind the game like it’s their full-time job were suspicious. But the coup de grâce? He seemed blissfully unaware of what the stats on the gear even meant. Viewers couldn’t help but wonder: Is Elon Musk paying someone to play these games for him? Could it be, dear gamers, that the world’s most memeable billionaire is engaging in the dark art of “boosting”? (Spoiler: That’s when you hire someone else to grind games on your behalf, usually outsourced to gamers who sweat pixels 16 hours a day, often in China).
And boy, did the betrayal sting. Musk’s misstep ignited a fiery backlash in the gaming sphere, especially among the Reddit-flavored segment of young, right-leaning men that Musk has been working overtime to appeal to. Even Asmongold, famed streamer and unofficial hype man for angry gaming discourse, couldn’t resist taking a swipe. Musk retaliated with his now-signature combo of erratic social media posts and misplaced superiority complexes, hilariously misunderstanding how YouTube editors work in the process (hint: they aren’t their boss’s puppet masters).
So, where does Musk go from here? Well, he’s already a pro at rebranding disasters as eccentric quirks, so maybe this will be spun as him being too busy launching satellites to focus on learning how to walk his character across a dungeon. Until then, gamers around the world will keep clutching their keyboards, shaking their heads, and laughing into the void. Will Musk give up his dream of becoming the King of Gamers? Unlikely. Will the irony ever stop being delicious? Absolutely not.
