The latest poster boy in the ongoing trend of hating people with money is Elon Musk. The CEO of Tesla and pioneer of commercial space travel has been taunted to death by the public whilst already facing enough humiliation after being forced to step down as chairman of his own company. Now, it appears that, as of October 19, Musk has acquired a new enemy: Fortnite.
Had to been done ur welcome pic.twitter.com/7jT0f9lqIS
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 19, 2018
Calm down, anti-Muskers and Fortniters, you have not seen your last Victory Royale just yet. That aggressive burn of an article was merely a hoax for the purpose of poking fun at both Musk and the popular video game that combines the third-person shooter gaming style with virtual sandbox tactics. Think Call of Duty meets Minecraft.
But while the news is untrue, Musk is not necessarily denying it either. His tweet suggests that the purchase and termination of Fortnite would have been a worthy investment.
Little did he know that he had not yet escaped the storm.
A whole decade, @elonmusk? Just build, LOL!https://t.co/BkBlpzFI6v
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) October 20, 2018
The official Fortnite Twitter also had its crew along to back it up in this battle.
Good thing I play with my girlfriend so I am in a whole separate category. I have some sort of immunity and can continue playing 😂
— Luke Schanback (@Luke22Luke) October 23, 2018
But Musk was determined to earn a victory with one final blow.
Reality is hard
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 20, 2018
We have seen many bizarre Twitter wars, even fairly recently, but this one raises an interesting question: what exactly is the tech entrepreneur’s beef with Fortnite? Is the disparaging quote from the otherwise false news article a revealing dive into his true belief of the game’s depriving effects? Or does he just take annoyance to those victory dances which no Fortnite hater can seem to get past?
Upon deeper analysis, it does not seem fair for Musk to taunt the seemingly harmless game because, frankly, they both seem to have a lot in common.
They are both a topic of divisive discussion in the media.
They have both been faced with embarrassing legal trouble.
PUBG vs. Fortnite: Is Epic's Battle Royale Mode in legal trouble? https://t.co/k29SAt1JSk pic.twitter.com/HeRLTJUnUW
— GameSpot (@GameSpot) October 7, 2017
Elon Musk might be in legal trouble over this drawing of a faring unicorn pic.twitter.com/Dr8rsTLF9H
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) July 2, 2018
And, needless to say, they have both been memed to death.
Despite how easy it is to compare Musk to Fortnite, what is most clear is what makes them different: one is a powerful entrepreneur with progressively-minded vision that has propelled him to a surprising level of celebrity status and the other is a harmless, kid-friendly video game that has acquired enduring popularity for its fun battle mode, as well as it its goofy dances. Love them or hate them, they are not going anywhere, but perhaps should remain existing on different plains.
But would it not be cool to have a battle royale on Mars?
Who do you think deserves to see their Victory Royale? Should Fortnite have its last dance or will anti-Muskers prevail? Let us know in the comments below!