NVIDIA is launching DLSS 5, the latest version of its AI upscaling technology, alongside NBA 2K27 on 3 September, but early reactions and demos suggest the feature has landed to widespread criticism rather than excitement. Unlike previous DLSS iterations that focused on boosting resolution and frame rates, DLSS 5 can alter character models and environments in pursuit of "photorealism," and leaked examples from games such as Resident Evil: Requiem and Starfield have been widely mocked as uncanny and unflattering. NVIDIA is pitching this as a major step forward for gaming graphics, but critics argue it is unnecessary and, in some cases, actively detrimental to a game's visual style.

The technology is exclusive to NVIDIA's RTX 50-series graphics cards, meaning most gamers will be unable to use it regardless of its merits. NVIDIA's Edward Liu, Director of Applied Deep Learning Research, said the firm's compute budget has grown more than 400,000-fold as it chases "Hollywood-grade photorealism," framing DLSS 5's AI rendering as a way to bridge the gap between traditional graphics and that goal. However, hands-on demonstrations at Gamescom were described as subtle at best, adding minor detail to faces or textures in titles like NBA 2K27, and the author concludes most players are unlikely to notice or miss the feature if it is absent.