Diablo 4, Path of Exile 2 Devs Silent on Elon Musk Ban for Account Boosting

Both Blizzard Entertainment and Grinding Gear Games have remained tight-lipped about whether they will ban the accounts of Elon Musk following his reported admission of cheating in their games, Diablo 4 and Path of Exile 2. Screenshots of 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 that the integrity of the games is being compromised.

Account boosting, where a player pays someone else to log into their account and elevate their rank, is explicitly prohibited by the terms of service of most live service video games. Blizzard's end user license agreement specifically bans account boosting or power-leveling in exchange for payment.

Following Musk's admission, players have taken to forums to express their disappointment and question the enforcement of the games' terms of service. A Path of Exile player posted on the game's official forum, "So now billionaires can buy their way to the top of the HC ladder as a vanity project like owning a football club. Are the TOS not being enforced even when openly broken?" Another player expressed concern over the credibility of real money trading enforcement, saying, "I'm not trying to shitpost or troll with this, I'm just extremely disappointed that GGG isn't getting out the ban hammer. Anyone else feel this is undermining the integrity of the game?"

Similar sentiments were echoed on Battle.net, with one player questioning, "Is boosting against the rules? If it is, then shouldn’t Elon Musk’s account get banned since he flat out admitted that he boosts his account? I assume he doesn’t get to break the rules just because…"

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 has previously boasted about his gaming skills, claiming to be among the top 20 players in the world for Diablo 4 during an interview with Joe Rogan. He also mentioned having a hardcore level 97 Path of Exile 2 character, which has since perished. Musk has stated that he plays video games "to quiet my mind," adding, "Some days are real tough, so playing video games is my strange solace."

However, his gaming prowess came under scrutiny as players began to question his performance and understanding of the games. Doubts arose about whether Musk could dedicate the time needed to achieve such high levels given his numerous responsibilities at Tesla, SpaceX, X/Twitter, and as Donald Trump's efficiency tsar. An early January livestream of Musk playing Path of Exile 2 drew criticism for his apparent lack of understanding of the game's mechanics.

Suspicions that Musk was paying for account boosting were confirmed when a video posted by the Diablo player NikoWrex showed a direct message conversation with Musk on X, where Musk admitted to account boosting, stating it was necessary to compete with players in Asia. When asked if he intended to take credit for his high-level Path of Exile 2 character, Musk replied, "No. Never claimed that. The top accounts in Diablo or PoE require multiple people playing the account to win a leveling race." He also questioned the need to apologize for his actions.

In defense of Musk, musician Grimes, who shares three children with him, tweeted, "Just for my personal pride, I would like to state that the father of my children was the first American druid in Diablo to clear abattoir of zir and ended that season as best in the USA. He was also ranking in Polytopia, and beat Felix himself at the game. I did observe these things with my own eyes. There are other witnesses who can verify this. That is all."

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.