In a highly anticipated appearance on Zerodha co-founder Nikhil Kamath’s popular podcast, the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), and Neuralink, Elon Musk, has finally disclosed the reason he was unable to play the popular Grand Theft Auto (GTA) franchise ever since it was released. Musk, who spoke at length about a variety of topics in the podcast, states that his discomfort existed with the core criminal nature of the gameplay.
The revelation comes at a time when the gaming community has been eagerly awaiting the next installment of the Grand Theft Auto series, dubbed GTA 6 – a video game that has been delayed to November 2026. Musk, in his candid conversations with Kamath, revealed that he struggles to play video games that challenge basic morality.
Elon Musk reveals why he didn’t play GTA 5
Midway through the interview, when Kamath discusses morality and religion with Musk, the Tesla CEO reveals why he doesn’t play violent video games like GTA. While discussing the issue of morality in society, Kamath asks whether he played GTA, to which Musk responds, “ I have only played a little bit of GTA because I didn’t like the fact that … Like in GTA 5, you literally can’t progress unless you kill the police. This doesn’t work for me.”
“I actually don’t like killing the NPCs in video games. That’s not my thing. I actually stopped playing when it said the only way to proceed is to kill the police. I don’t want to do that,” he added.
Kamath responded in an effort to lighten the mood, saying, “Maybe that’s why us as the NPCs of our simulation are not dying,” to which Musk responds “maybe”.
“I think there are some common sense things that any civilisation that runs around… where people just murder each other wantonly, is not gonna be a successful one,” added Musk.
Hence, Musk makes it clear that he draws a personal, ethical line when it comes to committing virtual felonies and engaging in combat against law enforcement, even it is simply a fun video game that millions of people play around the world.
However, Musk’s comment comes ahead of the release of GTA 6, which is expected to take a different approach to an open-world crime-based video game, involving a romantic couple as a pair of protagonists.
Musk speaks about more things on the podcast
The full episode of the ‘People by WTF’ podcast with Elon Musk and Nikhil Kamath covers a wide range of topics, including Musk’s obsession with the letter ‘X’ and deeper discussions on technology, entrepreneurship, and space exploration. You can catch more updates on the discussion with stories on Financial Express.
