Elon Musk’s dubious gaming credentials are back in the spotlight amid the outspoken billionaire’s latest feud.
On Tuesday night, Musk took a break from lambasting his political opponents and Tesla vandals on X (the social media platform formerly called Twitter, which he owns) to verbally attack Twitch streamer Hasan Piker for promoting Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the latest entry in the long-running franchise.
Piker and Assassin’s Creed maker Ubisoft quickly shot back, calling out Musk’s shaky track record as a gamer. Others piled in, with memes, out-of-context clips and plenty of dunks.
Here’s how it went down: The beef started when Musk responded to a heated post from game developer Mark Kern (aka Grummz), whose controversial opinions on recent releases have earned him an unenviable reputation as an online troll.
In his latest spiel on the culture wars, Kern accused Ubisoft of “throwing money” at “terrorist-platforming streamers” about Piker’s ad promoting the new Assassin’s Creed, to which Musk replied: “Hasan is a fraud.”
The Tesla boss followed up with “sell-out would be more accurate. Objectively, he is promoting a terrible game just for the money.”
Is that what the guy playing your Path of Exile 2 account told you?
— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) March 25, 2025
For those readers who aren’t terminally online (bless you), Piker has been accused of spouting “anti-semitic rhetoric” over his coverage of the Gaza war.
During his livestreams, where he typically provides a running commentary on political news while chatting with his viewers, Piker has frequently declared his support for the Palestinian people and criticised Israeli leaders.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows, on the other hand, has faced criticism from some corners of social media over debunked claims of historical inaccuracies and cultural insensitivity.
U MAD? https://t.co/hcCnli8eWs pic.twitter.com/IxhSGohIdh
— Phys (@Physsss_) March 25, 2025
Unsurprisingly, the backlash (if we can even call it that) hasn’t harmed the game’s sales. Shadows recently became the second-highest selling Assassin’s Creed title at launch, per Ubisoft, proving once again that Twitter (sorry, X) isn’t real life. In other words, we mean some of its users are divorced from reality.
Back to the brouhaha, Piker and Ubisoft hit back, mocking Musk for talking a big game but struggling as a gamer.
“This bitch literally paid someone to powerlevel his character in poe2 lmao. wym i’m a fraud? elon i challenge you to a duel in elden ring. i will cook your fat rolling ass,” posted Piker.
Meanwhile, X users felt Ubisoft landed the killer blow by replying to Musk’s slander with: “Is that what the guy playing your Path of Exile 2 account told you?”
Where other men blindly follow the truth...
— Assassin's Creed (@assassinscreed) March 25, 2025
Remember, nothing is true. https://t.co/eLyp4VN9Gw pic.twitter.com/9F57EpCSzY
Is Elon Musk a gamer?
For the unfamiliar, Musk recently admitted to account boosting in the hellish RPG, Path of Exile 2, confirming suspicions that someone else had leveled up his character.
Despite bragging about ranking highly on the global hardcore ladder, Musk struggled with basic mechanics in a livestream, leading to widespread skepticism. After his character died, streamers like Asmongold challenged him to prove he’d played legitimately.
https://t.co/ZmHkqHFzyE pic.twitter.com/nocHZWK3sZ
— 🍉LoZza🍉 (@CocoaFox023) March 25, 2025
Musk later admitted in private messages that he had used account boosting, claiming it was common practice among top players. His revelation cast a shadow over his self-proclaimed gaming prowess and reignited debates over the ethics of account boosting in competitive gaming.
As the tit-for-tat escalated, Musk called Piker a “chickenshit retard” for allegdly blocking him on X. And, Grummz tried to push the incorrect narrative that Shadows was flopping by comparing it to an older game on Steam.
44 billion dollars to get cooked on your own website https://t.co/sxYeWYoNTj pic.twitter.com/sEAeywCayF
— Mano (@ManoReborn) March 25, 2025
Both posts were quickly ratioed (receiving more replies than positive interactions), indicating they didn’t go down well.
Everyone else just rolled their eyes at the sight of an uber-wealthy tech entrepreneur squabbling over a video game.
What has Elon Musk said about video games?
Needless to say, this isn’t Musk’s first gaming faux pas. Every once in a while, X users roundly mock him for previously admitting that he doesn’t play Grand Theft Auto because he “didn’t like doing crime” and “shooting police officers”.
More broadly, Musk has accused the gaming industry of going woke. He’s railed against everything from the inclusion of pronouns in character creation screens — branding it a symptom of a “woke mind virus” — to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, which he claims interrupt gameplay with “tedious propaganda.”
Musk says this so-called “forced-woke ideology” is ruining gaming, making titles feel “more like lectures than entertainment.”
His solution for this perceived malaise hasn’t gone down well, either. Musk has floated the idea of a gaming studio that uses artificial intelligence to create new titles. Critics have slammed this as tone-deaf, given that video game actors are striking over AI’s threat to their jobs.
