The affair broke out after the boss of Tesla and SpaceX filmed himself last week playing “Path of Exile 2”, boasting of having one of the highest ranked characters. But veteran players accused him of lying about his level, pointing out that he made rookie mistakes and didn’t seem to know the basic mechanics of the game.
Other fans believe that the billionaire had to pay players for his avatar to obtain high scores. Asmongold, a popular streamer on the Twitch platform, even challenged Musk to prove that he had reached this level himself. These jokes and this skepticism were not received with humor by the billionaire. Elon Musk no longer follows Asmongold on X and the streamer has lost its blue check mark, marking authenticated accounts on the platform.
The quarrel did not end there: the entrepreneur counterattacked with his own accusations. “Asmon behaves like an “independent” maverick (…) but in reality, he has to ask his boss for permission before he can do anything. He is not in control of himself,” Musk wrote on X.
A user posted a “community note” under the leader’s post, clarifying that Asmongold does not have a “boss.” The “community notes” system, powered by users of the service and established by Elon Musk, is supposed to help combat misinformation. Above all, the public spat sparked an avalanche of comments describing the tycoon as a “man-child” with a “fragile ego”. Many fans said the billionaire had lost their trust.
The affair in fact damages the carefully cultivated image of a superman endowed with extraordinary skills: Musk runs several large companies, bombards X with messages and excels in video games, while being the father of several children. After investing heavily in Donald Trump’s campaign, he will also co-lead an advisory mission to the new government to reduce state spending.
-“Path of Exile 2”, a role-playing game available in preview on paid subscription, is similar to the Diablo series: you have to face monsters, avoid traps, solve puzzles. The main challenge is to collect rewards to improve your avatar, leading players to repeat simple tasks to accumulate objects, a time-consuming practice that is not compatible with the responsibilities of the boss of multiple companies. The main campaign of “Diablo IV” can thus be completed in around 30 hours, but the duration increases considerably with the side missions.
Elon Musk often talks about video games, claiming to be one of the world’s best players in various games, including “Diablo IV.” He said the activity forced him to “focus” and that “killing demons in a video game (calmed his) inner demons.” “Path of Exile 2” is said to be even more complex and technical than “Diablo IV,” and the tycoon’s poor performance in his live game has led netizens to question other supposed exploits of the entrepreneur.
“As a player you are very proud of your ranking/level. Trying to pretend when he is the richest man in the world is just absurd and pointless, one user wrote on X. This also makes me wonder, is he willing to lie? about that, what else is he willing to lie about.”
