Public transcript

Elon Musk Gives His Rushmore Of The World's Greatest Video Games | Rushmore On X

By: Rushmore Podcast
Length: 11 min
Language: English
Text from: the video's captions
Transcribed: 13 October 2026

Read the full transcript Open on YouTube

Notes in English.

Summary

Elon Musk and former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick join the hosts for a Mount Rushmore of video games. Musk shares his picks, including Quake, Half-Life 2, Bioshock, Deus Ex and Diablo, and recounts his early gaming days, from the Magnavox Odyssey to a paid Quake esports tournament. The conversation also covers game industry figures like John Carmack, John Romero and Warren Spector.

Key points

Elon Musk's Rushmore picks include Quake, Half-Life 2, Bioshock, Deus Ex and Diablo I.
Musk's first gaming device was a pre-Atari console, likely the Magnavox Odyssey, which played built-in games like Pong and a racing game.
Musk played in what he was told was the first paid esports tournament in the US, a Quake tournament around 1996-97, winning about $5,000 with his four-person team.
Deus Ex, made by Ion Storm with writing by Warren Spector, features a plot about an engineered bioweapon used to create fear and seize power, which Musk found remarkably prescient.
Bobby Kotick ran Activision and had long worked with id Software; John Romero left id to found Ion Storm.
Musk is friends with John Carmack, calling him one of the world's best engineers, and they discuss rocket engineering at Starbase launches.
Musk became number one on the Polytopia leaderboard but deleted the game from his phone because it was too addictive.
In the past year, Musk says the game he has played the most is Diablo 4.

Questions it answers

00:00Welcome and introductions

Who are the guests and how did this podcast format start?

Elon Musk and former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick join the hosts for a Mount Rushmore of video games. The Rushmore format grew out of a last-meal conversation in Greece with Elon, Ben and the host's wife Stodd.

Bobby Kotick ran Activision and recently sold it.
The hosts joke that Mount Rushmore would make more money with a Shake Shack at the bottom.

02:01Musk's gaming background

How did Elon Musk get into video games?

Musk says his non-work hobbies are friends, family and video games. His first console was a pre-Atari machine, likely the Magnavox Odyssey, with built-in games like Pong, and he later played Apple 2 and Atari 2600 games.

The Magnavox Odyssey was owned by Philips of the Netherlands.
Musk played the Call of Duty series from the beginning.

03:06Quake tournament story

What was Elon Musk's competitive gaming experience?

Around age 23-24, Musk spent his final undergrad semester playing Quake more than attending classes. He joined a four-person team in what he was told was the first paid esports tournament in the US, winning about $5,000.

Musk was the second-best player on his team.
The best player later became the CIO of Musk's company.

04:06Musk's Rushmore picks

Which games make Elon Musk's Mount Rushmore?

Musk names Quake, Half-Life 2, Bioshock and Deus Ex, and adds Diablo I when pressed. He notes Diablo 4 is the game he has played most in the past year.

Bobby Kotick agrees Doom and Quake were the most transformative multiplayer games.
Musk evaluates games against the time they were released.

04:46Deus Ex plot

Why does Deus Ex stand out to Elon Musk?

Musk praises its writing and plot: an engineered bioweapon terrifies the population into demanding lockdown and martial law, and the head of UN security forces, who engineered the virus, seizes absolute power. The player is JC Denton, a cyberware-enhanced agent who discovers he is not working for the good guys.

The game was made by Ion Storm with writing by Warren Spector.
Musk jokes that the plot sounds familiar.

07:39Carmack, Romero and industry figures

What do the speakers say about key game industry figures?

John Romero left id to found Ion Storm and later started Armadillo Aerospace. John Carmack, a close friend of Musk, is called one of the world's best engineers and possibly the most capable graphics programmer; he contributed to Oculus and now runs his own AI company, visiting Starbase for launches.

Warren Spector, Deus Ex's writer, lives in Austin.
Musk and Carmack have in-depth rocket engineering discussions.

09:00Polytopia addiction

Why did Elon Musk delete Polytopia?

Musk reached number one on the Polytopia leaderboard with an ELO around 1609-1614, but the game became so addictive he saw the board when closing his eyes, even at a friend's birthday party, so he deleted it from his phone.

His win/loss ratio against Felix, the game's creator, is about even.
Bobby Kotick never played Polytopia; strategy games were not his thing.

Notes

Background and Format

The episode is a "Mount Rushmore" of video games with Elon Musk and Bobby Kotick joining the hosts.
The Rushmore podcast concept originated from a last-meal conversation in Greece involving Elon, Ben, and the host's wife Stodd.
Bobby Kotick ran Activision and recently sold it; the hosts joke about a text exchange where Bobby teased Elon about not handling 24 hours of retirement.

Musk's Gaming History

Musk's first gaming device was a pre-Atari console, likely the Magnavox Odyssey (owned by Philips of the Netherlands), with built-in games like Pong and a racing game.
He grew up on Apple 2 and Atari 2600 games, all running on 6502 one-megahertz processors.
In his final undergrad semester, he spent more time playing Quake than attending classes.
He competed in what he was told was the first paid esports tournament in the US (around 1996-97), a four-person Quake team event, winning roughly $5,000. He was the second-best player; the best later became his company's CIO.

Musk's Rushmore Picks

Quake, Half-Life 2, Bioshock, Deus Ex, and Diablo I (with Diablo 4 being his most-played game in the past year).
Deus Ex, made by Ion Storm with writing by Warren Spector, features JC Denton, a UN security forces agent with cyberware implants. Its plot involves an engineered bioweapon used to terrify the population into demanding lockdown and martial law, with the UN security forces head engineering the virus to seize power.

Industry Figures

John Romero left id Software to found Ion Storm; Warren Spector wrote Deus Ex and lives in Austin.
John Carmack, a longtime friend of Musk, is described as one of the world's best engineers and possibly the most capable graphics programmer. He contributed hugely to Oculus, left Facebook, and now runs his own AI company. He visits Starbase for launches and discusses rocket engineering with Musk.
John Romero used his id Software money to start an aerospace company, Armadillo Aerospace.

Polytopia

Musk reached number one on the Polytopia leaderboard with an ELO around 1609-1614.
He deleted the game from his phone because he started seeing the Polytopia board when he closed his eyes, even at a friend's birthday party.
His win/loss ratio against Felix, the game's creator, is about even.

Text from the video's own captions. Summary and notes written by AI from the transcript, so check anything important against the recording.