Elon Musk Is Being Accused of Cheating in Video Games After 'Diablo' "Top Player" Brag

In the world of video gaming, there are a few unbreakable rules. But perhaps above anything else and accepted universally among gamers from all walks of life: You only brag about the accomplishments that you have earned. Everyone is welcome in the world of gaming. But lying about your accomplishments or faking your gaming record is one way to find yourself quickly on the outs with gamers.

One of the world's wealthiest men, Elon Musk, has found himself the subject of criticism and suspicion after concern was raised about claims he made regarding his gaming record. Here's what we know about Elon's video game records, why people think he's lying, and how strongly people have reacted to the possibility.

Suspicion first started following Elon after he participated in a pre-2024 election interview with Joe Rogan. In the interview, Elon claimed that he was among the top 20 players in the world for the popular video game Diablo IV. But there's one problem with that. According to Rolling Stone, Diablo IV is the kind of game that requires endless hours of dedication and uninterrupted gameplay to become a ranked player, much less among the world's top 20.

As it turned out, Elon was overstating his accomplishment just a little bit and had relied on the notoriously fluid ranks on helltides.com.

While he did briefly appear at No. 19, the mechanics of how left many unimpressed. Some suggested he's been "account-sharing" or farming out his account to users who would rack up accomplishments on his account for him. Others, on the other hand, wonder if he really did just walk away from other responsibilities to put in the hours after hours to rise to the top.

The controversy hearkens back to a 2022 incident wherein Elon bragged about his skills in another video game, Elden Ring. At that time, he proudly shared an image of "his build," showing off his character. But hardcore players were quick to point out that not only was the character built poorly by gaming standards, but a lot of choices were made that would weaken the character, such as two heavy shields that would decrease agility.

Many felt that this was proof that Elon didn't understand the game's fundamentals, questioning his status as a regular player.

There's also the Path of Exile 2 controversy. Elon streamed himself playing as two different characters, "Kekius_Maximus” and "Percy_Verence," both of whom ended up in the top 100 leaderboards for the game.

However, players of the game were skeptical after Elon's streams painted a picture of a player who didn't understand the game mechanics very well.

Gamers have accused Elon of using better players to artificially inflate his rankings.

On social media, the call-outs are endless as is the disdain. Under the comments for one TikTok video calling Elon out and pointing to inconsistencies, one critic wrote, "His entire life is pay to play." Another added, "This is him with rockets, Tesla, Space X, literally everything else."

One user mused, "If he's lying about this, then imagine what else he's lying about."

A few people defended him, calling out the elitist attitude that some gamers seem to be displaying. But overall, people seem skeptical and disturbed that he would represent himself inaccurately over something as benign and inconsequential as gaming.

After all, this is the man who was tapped to run a new government department under President Donald Trump.

It's unclear at this point if Elon really is farming his accounts out to better players, abdicating his responsibilities to rack up the virtual accomplishments, or some other approach.

But one thing is clear. Video gamers as a whole don't seem to trust Elon. And while Elon's money means that he doesn't have to care much about what gamers think, it's clear that he cares about earning their approval. Otherwise, why lie, or at least why spend so much time appearing to be so skilled? The answer remains elusive.