They used a tabletop device to make a "simulation" of a Higgs boson inside a semiconductor. It was not a new elementary particle like an electron or a photon.

Is solid state physics they don't call those thing a "simulation", they call a quasiparticle. They are not a single entity, but they behave almost like a single entity, so if yu are working in the are it's easier to make the calculation as if they are a single entity.

Moreover, most of the time they just call the particles, but everyone in the area and physicist in other areas understand that they are talking about quasiparticles. The problem is when the new reach the press and that implicit understanding is lost.