One week after Nvidia's DLSS 5 reveal sparked widespread developer criticism for using generative AI to alter game visuals and override artistic intent, indie figures are now urging a boycott. Dave Oshry, CEO of New Blood Interactive, called on gamers and developers to cripple Nvidia's sales and stock price, while Dusk developer David Szymanski decried its showcase in Resident Evil Requiem.
Speaking to PC Gamer, Oshry said, “Cripple their sales, tank their stock price. Stop collaborating with them as developers. Then maybe they’ll think about going back to giving us what we want.” He likened the pushback to resistance against NFTs, crypto games, microtransactions, loot boxes, and battle passes. On X, Oshry added, “This is more than just experimental bullshit. This is fundamentally changing the way video games look based on artificial intelligence that’s been trained on Instagram models and Epstein memes.” Nvidia has not disclosed DLSS 5's training data and previously described it as generative upscaling at the geometry layer rather than post-processing. Oshry noted that only one New Blood game uses DLSS, calling implementation a “huge pain in the ass,” and framed his stance as that of a concerned PC gamer. He sarcastically remarked, “You used to have to spend hours poorly modding your games to make them look this ‘cinematic’, and now Nvidia is going to let you do it for free! Just kidding, it’ll cost like $5,000.” Szymanski echoed the frustration to PC Gamer, saying the Resident Evil Requiem showcase—praised for its AAA quality—felt like an insult: “Seeing Grace and Leon getting run through the slop filter as a ‘victory lap’ definitely feels like insult and injury combined into one.” He added, “Nobody wants a fucking glorified autocorrect painting over the work of actual human beings making actual art.” Oshry questioned the future of game art: “At this rate, why make game art at all? Why not just draw some shapes and colors and let AI generate what it thinks it should look like?”
