- The Wall Street Journal published an excerpt from Walter Isaacson's upcoming Elon Musk biography.
- It includes an anecdote where Musk played "Elden Ring" until 5:30 a.m. after deciding to buy Twitter.
Elon Musk stayed up all night playing video games after he committed to buying Twitter last year, per The Wall Street Journal.
The anecdote was recounted by Grimes, the musician and Musk's on-off girlfriend, to Walter Isaacson for his upcoming biography on the world's richest person — an excerpt of which was published by the Journal.
As Musk weighed up whether or not to make an offer to acquire Twitter last April, he flew to Vancouver to meet Grimes to introduce himself and their son, X Æ A-Xii, to her parents, per Isaacson's extract. But because Musk was "in stress mode," Grimes decided to leave him at the hotel.
The billionaire then texted the chairman of Twitter's board with his official decision to buy the social media company, according to the WSJ. And after that, Musk started playing "Elden Ring" on a laptop he'd brought to the hotel.
"Instead of sleeping, he played until 5:30 in the morning," Grimes told Isaacson.
"Elden Ring" is a fantasy role-playing game which is known for being particularly difficult, with an extensive combat system. Some of the world-building was written by George R. R. Martin, the "Game of Thrones" author. And Musk spent much of his time in a region of the game called Caelid, a desolate wasteland with a bright red sky, Isaacson wrote.
Moments after he finished his gaming session, Musk tweeted: "I made an offer."
About a month after the Vancouver episode, Musk tweeted a photo of his character's setup in "Elden Ring." It showed he was an impressive level 121, but users criticized decisions like equipping two shields.
My brother in christ why do you have 86 intelligence and 2 shields
— Dolan Dark (@DolanDark) May 26, 2022
But even while being in charge of several companies, Musk has found time to play games. Isaacson also writes that Shivon Zilis, the Neuralink executive with whom Musk has twins, noticed he had "the itchiness of a video-game addict who has triumphed but couldn't unplug."
X did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.