X/Twitter owner Elon Musk lit up social media feeds today when he launched a wave of posts publicly criticizing Twitch streamer and content creator Zack Hoyt (a.k.a. Asmongold) following controversy regarding the tech billionaire’s high-level gameplay of Grinding Gear Games’ Path of Exile 2.
Musk first shared his thoughts in a reply to a post from YouTuber Screamheart, who published a two-minute clip from a new video that dives into the allegations surrounding the X owner’s Path of Exile 2 gameplay. The full video totals eight minutes and includes approximately 20 seconds of footage from Asmongold’s livestreams where he alleges that Musk is not totally responsible for the progress made on his level 97 Path of Exile 2 character.
“There is no way he played that account. Like, I’m sorry,” Asmongold says in the clip. “I think he bought the account, or somebody played it for him. A hundred-f***ing-percent.”
Musk’s response includes a series of replies where he calls the streamer “not his own man.” The billionaire also took the opportunity to post what Asmongold is calling a picture of “leaked” direct messages shared through X where the two previously spoke about how the streamer manages his YouTube account. It was a moment that has led to a messy back-and-forth between the two social media giants, and it’s preceded by in-depth investigation into Musk’s involvement in the gaming space.
Musk has long been championed as a gaming enthusiast. For years, he’s mentioned his appreciation for Blizzard Entertainment’s work on titles like Overwatch, and just yesterday, he said he still plays games “as my one recreational activity to quiet my mind.”
However, Musk’s self-proclaimed gaming prowess has been brought into question in recent months as players began to take a closer look at his performance and knowledge of the games he plays.
One title that has seemingly taken up hundreds of hours of Musk’s time is 2023’s Diablo 4, though as he’s climbed leaderboards and chatted with developers on X, many have commented on how much time he might be dedicating to Blizzard’s dungeon-crawling experience. In November of last year, the billionaire boasted about his place as one of the top 20 Diablo 4 players in the world, and he reached the number one spot a few weeks later. While others spend hundreds if not thousands of hours merely chipping away at the never-ending faucet of content available, Musk has maintained his gaming status while juggling his responsibilities as a figurehead of companies like X, SpaceX, Tesla, Neuralink, and more.
Discussion about Musk’s abilities as a gamer reached a new level after a recent, early January livestream that saw Musk tackling endgame tasks in Path of Exile 2 drew criticism from fans. Videos like those from content creators such as Quin69TV, penguinz0, and Asmongold have garnered millions of views as action RPG veterans analyze footage and commentary posted by the tech giant. One specific point of contention revolves around his (now deceased) level 97 Hardcore character, Percy_Verence.
“Two weeks into the league, when people are playing the game, literally, they are staying up 40 to 50 hours without sleeping, only playing Path of Exile – and they are the most try-hard guys in the world – the highest-ranked player in the Hardcore trade league was level 93,” Quin69TV explains in his video ‘Elon Musk is Lying About Being Good at Video Games.’
“You’re thinking to yourself, ‘That’s kind of close to 97.’ Every time you level up, it becomes exponentially harder to gain experience. A lot harder. So, these players, to get to level 97, had to be playing the game every day for the majority of their day.”
Musk’s stream features a number of moments that players are pointing to as signs he may not be quite as familiar with Path of Exile 2’s endgame mechanics as one might expect him to be after spending so much time in its world.
Seemingly struggling to access Maps, strange tab names, illogical inventory management, leaving behind rare loot, and a disregard for notoriously powerful weapons is just some of the evidence from Musk’s stream that players are using to accuse the billionaire of not playing nearly as much as he says he is.
Many are working with the theory that Musk might be paying others to boost his Path of Exile account for him, though there is no confirmation of this. The “why?” in the formula remains a mystery, too, but the idea is that maintaining his status as a gaming expert is something Musk is interested in, regardless of whether he’s actually the one playing the games.
Asmongold, whose YouTube channel features numerous other videos discussing content and updates for Path of Exile 2, took the time to address the topic with his own video called ‘Elon Musk is not getting away with this…’ In the footage, he largely agrees with Quin69TV’s analysis of the situation, believing that Musk may not be as truthful about his experience as he’s letting on.
“I thought it was really cool that Elon Musk was, like, a serious player of Diablo, and everything. I did,” Asmongold says. “I thought it was awesome, and I bet he probably did play PoE 2 on day one. I do. I bet he probably played it, and then he stopped.”
In the fallout of Musk’s posts to Asmongold, X’s own Community Notes feature has chimed in to clarify a few points. Regarding the tech billionaire’s comments suggesting that Asmongold must ask his bosses for permission, Community Notes clarifies that the employees mentioned in the leaked screenshots are the streamer’s editor, not his bosses. The user-driven feature also addressed Musk’s comment that Asmongold is “NOT good at video games” by listing his achievements in World of Warcraft.
“Was he probably not happy about the PoE video? He’ll get over it,” Asmongold added in a recent livestream. “Listen – it was so obvious. You cannot get mad at me for bringing this up. Everybody was talking about this. Come on, man.”
Elon has not directly addressed the widespread criticisms regarding his Path of Exile 2 gameplay at the time of this story’s publication.
