Elon Musk Loves Overwatch, Thinks Life Could Be a Video Game

Blizzard's hero shooter Overwatch has received more praise, this time from Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who also said recently that he believes life itself might be a video game.

Writing on Twitter, Musk said he "highly" recommends the game, saying it should appeal to people who enjoy "ultrafast team FPS action." He was also asked what platform he plays on, replying, "PC, of course."

Overwatch launched at the end of May behind a generally positive critical response. It became a quick success, attracting some 7 million players right out of the gate. This makes it "one of the most successful global game launches of all time," Blizzard said.

As for the more existential comment, Musk said at a recent Recode event that it's possible human existence is actually a simulation being controlled by some being of higher intelligence. Here's his line of thinking:

"The strongest argument for us being in a simulation is the following: 40 years ago, we had Pong. Two rectangles and a dot. Now, 40 years later, we have photorealistic 3D with millions playing simultaneously. If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then the games will become indistinguishable from reality, even if that rate of advancement drops by 1000 from what it is now.

"It's a given that we're clearly on a trajectory that we're going to have games that are indistinguishable from reality. It would seem to follow that the odds that we're in base reality is one in millions."

Musk isn't the only one who thinks video game graphics will eventually become indistinguishable from reality in the coming years. In 2012, Star Wars effects studio Industrial Light & Magic said that would happen in the next decade, while Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney made the same prediction in 2013.