Info: does he have other quirks? These kinds of obsessions and / or escapism are often linked to developmental issues, mental health issues, autism, etc. Have you looked into getting formal assessments done by a psychologist to figure out what might be going on? It would be a starting point for then working on assisting your son to improve his socialisation skills. Even if they determine he has no underlying issues, they can still help with socialisation skills and therapy.

I am going to have to judge YTA. Because the approach you have taken was to simply criticize, and done nothing to actually address the issue. It hurt your son further and failed to help at all.