TL;DR: Over the weekend, Digital Foundry’s John Linneman sparked an ongoing controversy over AMD preventing developers from including Nvidia’s DLSS technology in exclusive contracts. The tweets caused an uproar among people on both sides of the argument, and it took some later deletions and explanations to clear the air.
Before we clarify what Linneman said and what he meant, it might be helpful to recap the drama.
In June, Wccftech pointed out that many AMD-sponsored games have FSR upscaling but don’t have Nvidia’s version of the technology, DLSS, leading to speculation that AMD is preventing developers from implementing its competitor’s technology. When asked about the trend, AMD was vague and noncommittal, pointing out that many previous versions had DLSS but not FSR.
Finally, there was speculation as to whether or not Starfield would have DLSS, and most indicators suggested it would not. As such, AMD addressed the issue head-on last month, stating that it didn’t stop Bethesda from implementing DLSS in its sponsorship deal.
“If they want to use DLSS, they have AMD’s full support,” said Frank Azor, chief architect of AMD Gaming Solutions, adding that there’s nothing stopping Bethesda from using it. Some felt Azor’s statement was an opaque way of saying, “We will not stop Bethesda from exiting our partnership.”
Thanks to early reviews and confirmation from pre-order players who were granted early access, we know that Starfield does not offer native DLSS support. But don’t worry, there’s already an app for that. However, it’s still not answered whether AMD’s sponsorship includes exclusivity clauses or other types of deterrents from using DLSS.
Just to reiterate, if you’re seeing this post, it’s NOT about Starfield at all. It’s about other, unrelated games – we reported on that weeks ago. Some reddit people meant Starfield, but it has absolutely NOTHING to do with Starfield.
— John Linneman (@dark1x) September 3, 2023
Over the weekend, John Linneman appeared to confirm that Team Red is forcing studios to forgo the DLSS implementation. He claimed to have spoken to three developers who had already built DLSS support into their games but were told to remove it as it would hurt their AMD sponsorships.
Although he never mentioned Starfield, many people thought Bethesda was one of the three studios. Linneman says his comment relates to an episode of DF Direct a few weeks ago that discussed the controversy. However, in reviewing several recent shows, we could not find any mention of these claims. However, Linneman was vague about the series in question even when asked directly about the episode, so we may just have been looking in the wrong place.
The one where we talked about Starfield a few weeks ago. I can not remember exactly.
— John Linneman (@dark1x) September 3, 2023
Regardless, the misunderstanding sent one revolt by the community. Linneman deleted his original tweet and reposted a more accurate version, repeatedly emphasizing that he was not referring to Starfield. There’s some speculation that Bethesda or AMD asked him to remove the post, but he didn’t point it out and we couldn’t find any evidence of that. Linneman claims he removed it because people immediately linked to Starfield and misinterpreted the comments.
So what do we know?
Well, we know that Bethesda has ruled out Starfield’s DLSS support. This isn’t conclusive evidence that AMD is banning developers from implementing it, but it’s certainly a horrific reference to an issue the company hasn’t addressed decisively and transparently. Linneman’s claims would also support the idea of an AMD conspiracy to quash Nvidia technology through sponsorship deals. However, since there’s no way to fact-check his tweet, aside from a vaguely referenced DF Direct podcast, you’ll want to have your salt shaker handy.