Video game enthusiast and billionaire Elon Musk was recently kicked off of the free-to-play action game Path of Exile 2, and he’s now arguing with Asmongold, a popular Twitch streamer, about whether or not he played the game himself.
“There’s no way he played that account,” Asmondgold, also known as ZackRawrr, said in a video posted by another gamer, Screamheart. “I’m sorry. I think he bought the account or someone bought it for him.”
Newsweek reached out to Musk’s press team at X, formerly known as Twitter, along with Pate of Exile’s support team for comment over email.
Why It Matters
Musk, CEO of Twitter, Inc. (X Corp.), Tesla, Inc. and SpaceX, has become an ever-growing presence in U.S. and global politics. He reportedly joined Trump in a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He also spent Election Day at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida and has allegedly had a near-constant presence at the resort since the Republican’s win against Vice President Kamala Harris in November. Musk and fellow billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy will lead Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
In addition to his political work, Musk is a known video gamer. He is known to be a fan of classic games like the Legend of Zelda, Blaster and Dungeons and Dragons. He’s also talked about Warcraft and Minecraft in interviews. He has now grown in infamy for his abilities within Path of Exile 2 as gamers question how Musk has time for the game in addition to his CEO positions. That said, his reactions to people accusing him of not playing the game himself has led to a community note after he broke his own social media platform’s policies.
A visitor plays with a controller at the gaming fair “Polaris Convention”. Elon Musk before the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024 in Boca Chica, Texas.
Georg Wendt/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images/Brandon Bell/Pool via AP
What To Know
Another Twitch gamer, Screamheart, explained in a video that if Musk was truly the one playing on his alleged account, he would have had to “played thousands of maps at this point.”
According to gaming sites, Musk had completed “pinnacle content” multiple times, after having started with the game only a month ago on December 18, 2024. He even took the 15th spot on the game’s leaderboard. He was kicked off of the game for “performing too many actions too fast.”
Musk also posted once about playing Path of Exile 2 on a plane using Starlink.
Redditor Fraggu, however, pointed out that Musk’s alleged account links to Hong Kong, despite Musk playing in the United States. A follow up Reddit post showed that a second party was using Musk’s account to progress it within the game.
More recently, on X, Musk streamed his playing time on January 7. People are suggesting it showed his “inexperience,” though. Users also pointed out that Musk’s game had a “Elon’s map” tab and that he cleared areas “inefficiently.”
On January 11, gamer Quin69 made a video called “Elon Musk is Lying About Being Good at Video Games,” where Musk is accused of lying about Path of Exile 2 and his own abilities. Asmongold also shared there’s “no way” Musk was the one playing.
“Did Elon Musk play this account to level 97? The answer is very simple: No. Unequivocally, without a doubt,” Asmongold said. “If Elon Musk can prove that he played this account to 97, I will stream on X, starting the day that he proves it, for an entire year straight, every single stream.”
During a livestream on Wednesday, Asmongold reacted to posts on his subreddit that shared that Musk unfollowed the Twitch gamer on X. Some suggested Musk must be “not happy” with Asmongold’s videos.
After sharing his own thoughts, Asmongold played a video that showed Musk commenting on the controversy sharing that “the Chinese driver of my Path of Exile account” is named “Elon Ma, and he is amazing! I rely on him for everything.”
“Well, there it is,” Asmongold said. “The mystery has been solved. There we go. Well, it’s been confirmed.”
Musk, however, was not done and posted on X on Thursday that “Asmon behaves like a maverick ‘independent’ but in reality, has to ask his boss for permission before he can do anything,” sharing screenshots of a conversation between the two when Asmongold says he needs his editors’ permission.
A content warning has been added to Musk’s screenshots, sharing that it goes against X policies to share “someone else’s private messages without their express authorization and permission.”
What People Are Saying
Reddit user JustJaZZ: “I love how Asmon says the most basic “hey let me run this by my editors, they help me with the channel” and Elon takes that as “HE’S [expletive] BOUGHT AND PAID FOR, HE’S TAKING ORDERS FROM SOMEONE, HE REPORTS TO A HIGHER UP.”
Reddit user ThereGoesBinky: “Billionaire manchild tries to ‘gotcha’ a millionaire degen youtuber, after being called out for not playing games himself and bruising his ego, not understanding the dynamic of editors and content creators.”
Reddit user Appropriate-Swan3881: “I 100% expected Asmon to be quiet about it but im so glad he wasn’t. He deserves credit for that decision. When you are afraid to talk about ‘the free speech absolutist’ there is something wrong”
Reddit user Odd_Local8438: “‘free speech absolutist’ is and has been a dog whistle for exactly the behavior you’ve seen Musk exhibit since he took control of Twitter. There is no outrage because the people who were able to hear the dog whistle.”
What’s Next
It is unclear if Musk will be welcomed back to Path of Exile 2. The billionaire, however, takes the lead of the DOGE once President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Monday, January 20.
