Elon Musk is a self-confessed gaming obsessive, but he has revealed that he draws the line when it comes to shooting police officers.
The Tesla CEO weighed into a debate about Grand Theft Auto (GTA) on his social media site X after the highly-anticipated trailer for the sixth edition of the violent first-person game was leaked online.
Responding to an X employee’s post that they had never played GTA, Mr Musk said he was not a fan of the gratuitous violence.
“Tried, but didn’t like doing crime. GTA5 required shooting police officers in the opening scene. Just couldn’t do it,” he wrote.
The reasoning was met with mockery by many in the replies, with several people reminding that the game isn’t real.
“They’re pixels dawg,” one person wrote.
Tried, but didn’t like doing crime. GTA5 required shooting police officers in the opening scene. Just couldn’t do it.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 5, 2023
“Did you follow the traffic laws and stop at all the red lights,” another questioned with a laughing emoji.
“Bwhahahahaa bro has maxed out on virtue signalling lol,” a third added.
A select few people defended Mr Musk, insisting his tweet was a joke.
Fans of the GTA franchise were sent into a frenzy when a 90-second teaser for the game’s latest installment was posted online on Monday, which revealed it will be set in Miami-like Vice City and feature a female lead character for the first time.
Creators Rockstar Games responded by releasing the official trailer on YouTube hours later, and confirmed that GTA6 would not be released until 2025.
Mr Musk, 52, regularly posts about his gaming exploits on X, and has stated his intention to allow gamers to stream on the platform as part of his vision to turn it into an “everything app” to take on sites like YouTube and Twitch.
According to his biographer Walter Isaacson, Mr Musk created his own video game as a child and wanted to pursue a career designing them.
Elon Musk is a huge fan of Polytopia and Elden Ring, but can’t abide ‘doing crime’ in gaming— (Getty Images for The New York Times)
His former partner Grimes told the author that Mr Musk’s only means of relaxing was to play video games, “but he takes those so seriously that it gets very intense.”
Mr Isaacson revealed that the SpaceX CEO has in recent years become obsessed with Polytopia, which is described as a “strategy game about building a civilization and going into battle”.
His brother Kimbal told the biographer that he and Mr Musk made a list of valuable life lessons learned from playing Polytopia, including that “empathy is not an asset”.
In 2022, Mr Musk described the game Elden Ring, when experienced in its entirety, as “the most beautiful art I have ever seen”.
He has also recommended Overwatch, and confirmed that he once asked his ex-girlfriend Amber Heard to dress up as a character from the game.
