Both Blizzard Entertainment and Grinding Gear Games have remained silent on whether they will ban Elon Musk's accounts after the X/Twitter owner reportedly admitted to cheating. Screenshots of a private conversation between Musk and a YouTuber revealed that Musk paid for account boosting in the action RPGs Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2.
Account boosting, a form of cheating where a player pays to have their account leveled up by someone else, 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/[ttpp].
Following Musk's admission, both Blizzard and Grinding Gear Games have faced scrutiny over potential enforcement actions against Musk's accounts. Some players expressed disappointment and concern over the integrity of the games, with one Path of Exile player questioning the enforcement of the terms of service on the game's official forum.
Similar sentiments were echoed on Battle.net, with players questioning whether Musk's account should be banned for openly admitting to boosting.
When contacted by IGN, both Grinding Gear Games and Blizzard declined to comment on the matter, with Blizzard stating it does not discuss individual player account behaviors or enforcement actions.
Musk has previously boasted about his gaming achievements, including claiming to be in the top 20 players worldwide for Diablo 4 and having a hardcore level 97 character in Path of Exile 2. He has cited gaming as a way to "quiet my mind" during tough days.
However, his gaming prowess came under scrutiny as players questioned how he could achieve such high levels given his numerous professional commitments. An early January livestream of Musk playing Path of Exile 2 drew criticism for his apparent lack of understanding of the game's mechanics.
The allegations of account boosting were confirmed when a video posted by Diablo player NikoWrex showed a direct message conversation with Musk on X, where Musk admitted to paying for boosts, claiming it was necessary to compete with players in Asia.
Musk clarified that he does not take credit for high-level achievements and acknowledged that top accounts in both Diablo and Path of Exile require multiple people playing the account to win leveling races. He questioned the need to apologize for his actions.
In defense of Musk, musician Grimes, who shares three children with him, tweeted about witnessing Musk's gaming achievements firsthand, including being the first American druid to clear a specific challenge in Diablo and ranking highly in other games.
Further allegations of cheating surfaced when Musk's Path of Exile 2 character was seen active in the game while he was attending Trump's inauguration in Washington.