Nvidia’s Hated AI Filter Will Also Officially Make Games Run Worse

Published Sep 1, 2026, 1:15 PM EDT Ugly AI graphics and a 50% performance hit, what's not to love? Sign in to your Polygon.com account Word around Nvidia’s already-derided upscaling tech DLSS 5 keeps getting worse. On top of the graphics card manufacturer’s new Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) software churning out ugly AI-generated images, the technology can also cut users’ frame rates in half. Yikes. PC Gamer’s Andy Edser reported the news after a demo of the technology left him skeptical. While Edser admitted that DLSS 5 looks a bit less hideous when developers get a chance to tweak it, Nvidia told him the technology will reduce frame rates by 50–60% regardless of the game. Since DLSS traditionally improves a game’s frame rate, not the other way around, this news won't fix the software's terrible reputation. Why does everyone hate DLSS 5? As for why DLSS 5 has been so controversial, it is a real-time neural rendering model, so it comes with the same ethical and ecological concerns as generative AI. Also, the first DLSS 5 demo looked very bad. Like other forms of generative AI, this software can bulldoze artistic intent. It can make character models look unnatural, transforming them into either conventionally attractive supermodels or specters from the eighth circle of hell. Although DLSS 5 hasn’t been officially released, a few days ago, players were able to scrape files from an early access build of NBA 2K27 to get it working with other games. While some results weren’t quite as bad as when Nvidia revealed the yassifying tech alongside Resident Evil Requiem, itlooks even worse in other cases. Users posted horrifying images of what DLSS 5 looks like ingames with an anime aesthetic. While this tech was never meant to run on many of these games, the situation certainly hasn’t improved Nvidia’s nosediving reputation among many players. Nvidia has profited immensely from the onset of generative AI, and many existing customers have complained that the company has seemingly shifted focus away from traditional gaming as a result. The company’s most recent graphics cards were criticized as underwhelming, and most players will likely ignore the latest version of DLSS 5 because of the massive performance hit it causes. The controversial software will be released alongside NBA 2K27 on Sept. 3. While it would be nice to believe this negative feedback will change Nvidia’s trajectory, the company is making so much money off the generative AI craze that this seems a bit unlikely. Until the bubble hopefully pops, PC gamers can likely expect high hardware prices and more dissapointing efforts from Nvidia.