Both Blizzard Entertainment and Grinding Gear Games have remained tight-lipped about whether they will ban Elon Musk's accounts following his reported admission of cheating in their games, Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2. Screenshots from a private conversation between Musk and a YouTuber revealed that the billionaire had paid for account boosting in these action RPGs, sparking outrage among fans who feel this undermines the integrity of the games.
Account boosting, where a player pays someone else to log into their account and elevate their rank, is considered cheating and violates the terms of service of most live service video games. Blizzard's end-user license agreement explicitly prohibits account boosting or power-leveling for payment.
Elon Musk has reportedly admitted to cheating in Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2. Photo by Julia Demaree Nikhinson - Pool/Getty Images.
Following Musk's admission, questions have been raised on forums like the official Path of Exile forum and Battle.net about the enforcement of the games' terms of service. Players expressed disappointment and concern over the credibility of real money trading (RMT) enforcement, with some calling for Grinding Gear Games (GGG) to take action against Musk.
When approached by IGN, both Grinding Gear Games and Blizzard declined to comment on the matter, with Blizzard stating that it does not discuss individual player account behaviors or enforcements.
Musk, who has previously boasted about his gaming skills, including claiming to be among the top 20 players in Diablo 4, admitted to account boosting in a direct message conversation shared by the Diablo player NikoWrex. Musk justified his actions by stating that it was necessary to compete with players in Asia, who he claimed also engage in boosting.
Despite these revelations, Musk maintained that when he streams or posts videos, he is playing himself. He also clarified that he never claimed credit for having a high-level hardcore Path of Exile 2 character, acknowledging that top accounts often involve multiple people playing the account to win leveling races.
In defense of Musk, musician Grimes, who shares three children with him, tweeted about his gaming achievements that she had personally witnessed, including being the first American druid in Diablo to clear a specific challenge and ranking highly in other games.
Further allegations surfaced when Musk's Path of Exile 2 character was seen active in the game while he was attending Donald Trump's inauguration in Washington, raising more questions about the integrity of his gaming accomplishments.
