GoKawiilis a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Nvidia is officially launching DLSS 5 this week, following a divisive announcement in March where we likened the AI upscaling tech to a “real-time generative AI filter for video games” and “motion smoothing for video games, but worse.” DLSS 5 will officially be available on RTX 50-series desktop and laptop GPUs and through GeForce Now cloud gaming, though the only game with the tech so far is NBA 2K27 — which is launching September 3rd at 9PM PT on PC.
When it was announced, Nvidia lauded DLSS 5 as “the company’s most significant breakthrough in computer graphics since the debut of real-time ray tracing in 2018,” and highlighted how the tech uses AI to make games look more realistic by enhancing a game based on its source content. Nvidia also stressed that DLSS 5 gave developers controls that let them decide how changes from DLSS 5 appeared in their games.
Image compare: drag the handle to see the difference Nvidia says it can provide in NBA 2K27. Tap here for full-res with DLSS 5 off, and with DLSS 5 on.
But accompanying examples shared by Nvidia were widely criticized and meme’d on for significantly changing how characters looked, such as the “yassification” of Resident Evil Requiem protagonist Grace Ashcroft. With the official launch, Requiem still doesn’t support DLSS 5, and neither do other games shown in the March reveal, including EA Sports FC, Starfield, and Hogwarts Legacy, so we don’t know how the final version of the tech might now appear in those titles.
Nvidia did not answer our questions about when DLSS 5 might come to any game beyond NBA 2K27, nor reconfirm that previously confirmed titles will still include the tech.
Tap, twice, for higher res versions. Image: Nvidia
Tap, twice, for higher res versions. Image: Nvidia
In examples from NBA 2K27 we saw in a press briefing, though, changes from DLSS 5 don’t appear to be quite as dramatic as the types of adjustments shown in the initial reveal. The shadows and textures added by DLSS 5 generally made the players in the game look more realistic instead of turning them into AI caricatures. You can see more in our deeper dive here.
... continue reading