Video posted by top gamer shows what he says is X conversation in which billionaire admits ‘account boosting’

Elon Musk admitted he cheated at video games to get high scores, a transcript of a private online conversation he had shows, seemingly concluding a fiery scandal over the billionaire’s outlandish claims to be a globally-ranked player.

Musk has regularly bragged about his gaming rankings. He told the podcaster Joe Rogan last year that he was in the top 20 players in the world for the fiendishly difficult action role-playing game Diablo IV.

His claims have raised questions about how the world’s richest man could find time to compete internationally. He would need to have played hundreds of hours in between running businesses including Tesla Inc, X and SpaceX, as well as his growing political activity alongside Donald Trump.

Two games Musk says he has high scores in, Diablo IV and Path of Exile 2, are notoriously hard to compete in. Some players spend most of their waking hours “grinding” through dungeons and battling monsters and other fantastical creatures to make their virtual characters more powerful.

An answer to Musk’s unlikely gaming prowess was provided in a video posted on YouTube on Sunday by the top Diablo player NikoWrex, which showed what he said was a direct message conversation with Musk on X.

In the conversation, Musk admits to “account boosting”, a cheating practice in which people get other players to power up their characters. This is usually done by paying them to play for hours.

“Have you level boosted (had someone else play your accounts) and/or purchased gear/resources for PoE2 [Path of Exile 2] and Diablo 4?” asked NikoWrex. Musk responded with a 100% emoji. He later added: “It’s impossible to beat the players in Asia if you don’t, as they do!”

The Guardian could not independently verify the transcript, but Musk reposted the video to his X account and had previously interacted with NikoWrex on X in early January to discuss Path of Exile 2. In his video, NikoWrex, whose Instagram account says is called Nick Hayes, showed that Musk follows him on X.

He said in the video that Musk had permitted him to publish their conversation. The Guardian has contacted Musk through X for comment.

Uproar about Musk’s alleged video game prowess exploded after his comments on Rogan’s podcast in November, and further scrutiny came at the beginning of the year when he did a livestream of his Path of Exile 2 character on X.

High-level players with deep knowledge of the game said Musk made rookie mistakes that no expert would make, including walking straight past valuable items that would help his character.

After being called out, Musk began to fight the allegations publicly, getting into arguments with prominent gamers. At the end of the conversation with NikoWrex, Musk claimed to be “a living god of video games”.

The Canadian musician Grimes, who has three children with Musk from a previous relationship, tweeted in his defence on Saturday, saying she had seen with her own eyes how he was a top Diablo player in the US. “There are other witnesses who can verify this,” she said.

On Monday, further allegations of cheating were levelled when Musk’s Path of Exile 2 character was seen as active in the game while Musk was in Washington attending Trump’s inauguration.