Elon Musk jokes about deleting 'Fortnite,' sparking war of words
Elon Musk, mercurial entrepreneur and Tesla CEO, took aim at a new rival on Twitter over the weekend – making a joke about viral online video game Fortnite.
Musk re-tweeted what appeared to be a photo-shopped screenshot of an article that featured a headline suggesting he had bought the game and then deleted it to save players “from eternal virginity,” adding the caption that it “had to [be] done.”
The Fortnite account responded to Musk, criticizing SpaceX over estimates it would take the company “a whole decade” to build its first base on Mars. In a retort, the businessman said, “Reality is hard.”
The exchange drew a slew of comments from fans, some of whom Musk also engaged.
The online video game, made by Epic Games, has become wildly popular since its launch in 2017. Players are dropped into an arena and are required to collect materials in order to survive against other competitors. Players can choose to make in-game purchases with their own money.
Fortnite can be played across multiple platforms. The free version, known as Battle Royale, is the most popular, where the last player standing after a 100-person melee is deemed winner.
The game generated $223 million in revenue in March alone, and is expected to generate $2 billion for Epic Games this year, according to Bloomberg.
Meanwhile, Musk recently reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission – which was approved by a judge last week – over an allegation that a tweet he fired off about having secured funding to take Tesla private misled investors. As part of the settlement, he was forced to relinquish his role as chairman of the board for at least three years and Tesla was to establish a new committee of independent directors to oversee his communications.
Tesla’s stock is down more than 17 percent so far this year.