The world's richest man has been accused of cheating. And this time, it's not in business, his love life, or his new government role, but in an arena far more serious for some: video games.
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00:00The world's richest man has been accused of cheating, and this time, it's not in business,
00:05his love life, or his new government role, but in an arena far more serious for some
00:09— video games.
00:11In early January 2025, Tesla and SpaceX head honcho Elon Musk sent a shockwave through
00:17the RPG community when he revealed that he was behind Perseverance — get it, like Perseverance,
00:23hmm?
00:24— one of the highest-ranked hardcore player characters in Path of Exile 2.
00:27However, the admiration of his fellow players quickly turned to suspicion when Musk livestreamed
00:32a Path of Exile 2 session on X, which he owns, on January 7th.
00:37Musk seemed woefully ignorant of many of the game's mechanics.
00:40Commenters have pointed out that Musk left behind top-tier loot, seemingly struggled
00:44to properly use the game's map and navigate basic menu functions, and they did not seem
00:49to realize he was out of manner during a boss fight.
00:52"...a bit hard to see on my screen, ehhh."
00:57All those factors made fans feel like Musk barely understood the game he was playing,
01:01which made it all the more confusing to see that he somehow managed to reach level 97
01:06in hardcore mode, which punishes death by wiping out all other players' progress.
01:10Dedicated Path of Exile 2 players have accused Musk of sharing his account with other players,
01:15with some suggesting that he paid a more seasoned player to level up his character on his behalf.
01:20Elon's detractors also rejoice when the news spread on Reddit that Percy Virence had been
01:24slain, ending his reign at rank 7 on the global Path of Exile leaderboard.
01:29This dramatic end hasn't totally satisfied gamers, however, and it seems like the discourse
01:34is only beginning.
01:35Some big names in the streaming community have called upon Elon to prove his gaming
01:39prowess, with many reacting to Musk's livestream and providing their own commentary.
01:43For instance, Quinn69 grew increasingly frustrated throughout his video on the topic.
01:48"...he clearly has no idea what the f**k is going on."
01:51Moistcritical had a very similar reaction.
01:54"...he just doesn't understand how the game works. He is beyond clueless."
02:00HasanAbi went one step further, saying,
02:03"...my man was so obviously cheating. We know he's not an incredible video game
02:08player because we remember his Elden Ring build."
02:11That was a reference to Musk's character in the super popular FromSoftware game,
02:15the stats for which The Billionaire shared in 2022.
02:18Players were essentially shocked by Musk's equip load, which forced him to fat-roll,
02:23moving far slower than the optimal way of playing the game.
02:26Asmongold's reaction to Musk's gameplay video has attracted the most attention, though,
02:30given that he's a huge fan of Path of Exile 2.
02:33Asmongold immediately came to the conclusion that
02:35Musk was getting other people to level up his character for him.
02:38During a recent stream, Asmongold decided to put his channel where his mouth is.
02:42He said that if Musk can prove that he himself played his character to level 97…
02:47"...I will stream on X starting the day that he proves it,
02:51for an entire year straight, every single stream."
02:54Musk has not yet responded to this challenge thrown down by Asmongold,
02:58but fans are waiting with bated breath. After all,
03:01this isn't the first time Musk has been accused of underhandedly boosting his games.
03:05He faced similar allegations when he claimed to be one of the world's top Diablo 4 players.
03:10The bet from Asmongold has undoubtedly sweetened the
03:12deal for everyone watching the drama unfold.