Elon Musk is officially the richest man in the world now, but that hasn’t put him above maintaining a presence on social media and interacting with his fans. Mostly on Twitter, he still answers questions and even posts the odd meme here and there. One fan of Musk’s SpaceX program has been asking Musk for months whether or not he may use the SpaceX name and logo on his game in development, and he finally got an answer.
Musk is no stranger to the world of video games and is not shy about posting his opinions of them online. He says he’s only had a little bit of time to play the popular and controversial Cyberpunk 2077 but didn’t hesitate to troll the developer, CD Projekt Red when he ran into the cacophony of glitches that the game has become known for. He has also taken a dig at Rockstar after it announced that it would be releasing a port of GTA 5 for the PS5, instead of the highly anticipated GTA 6, with a meme showing Rockstar wringing out every last drop from its 2013 game. Knowing that Musk is a fellow gamer and a sci-fi fan, one of his followers made a gutsy move and asked for permission to use the SpaceX name and logo in a space-themed game that he has been working on.
Twitter user Lyubomir Vladimirov has been sending tweets to Musk promising to keep sending them for a full year or until Musk answered. Yesterday that day finally came, when on day 154 Musk responded to his tweet. Vladimirov is busy making a game called Mars Is Flat, a “highly technical Mars survival simulator” about colonizing Mars and he wants to feature Musk and his aerospace services company in it. This would not be a small easter egg or nod to SpaceX but would spotlight Musk’s company in the foreground of the game. Musk gave Vladimirov permission to use SpaceX’s name and logo, saying that he “probably” won’t sue him.
Vladimirov is not the first to want SpaceX as part of his creation, as Musk has extended his company’s tendrils into other media too. Tom Cruise is teaming up with both NASA and Musk to film a movie in outer space. Called SpaceX Project, Tom Cruise appears to be trying to top his greatest stunts yet by filming on the International Space Station. Production is expected to start in October, but the space race is on again as Russia has announced that they too will be starting production on their own movie shoot in space this October.
Vladimirov’s tweets were met with both encouragement and doubt, as some people are excited to see his game featuring SpaceX while others have a more pessimistic point of view. Several Twitter users warned Vladimirov that Musk might end up suing him anyway, especially since Musk’s tweet only used the word “probably” instead of giving a definitive “yes” or “no”. Vladimirov has shown some physical renders from his game, including the SpaceX suit already, so development on the game is moving forward and it seems Musk might be on board – for now.
