Starfield will be launching next week with AMD’s FSR as its main upscaling technology. However, AMD recently clarified the misconception that the company is blocking the addition of Nvidia’s DLSS to the game – meaning the tech could help Starfield, too.
Bethesda and AMD have received some serious backlash from PC gamers regarding their partnership. A vast majority of PC players on Steam have gaming PCs powered by Nvidia graphics cards and gamers are afraid that the partnership will prevent the inclusion of Nvidia-specific features in the highly anticipated title.
One thing that players want is for the upcoming space RPG to include support for Nvidia’s DLSS upscaling tech. The two big players on the gaming graphics front have their own proprietary upscaling methods, and exclusivity deals can effectively prevent or enable some players to enjoy specific features based on what hardware they use.
AMD has subtly confirmed that DLSS will not be coming to Starfield when it arrives next week. However, the company clarified that it is not stopping Bethesda from adding DLSS to Starfield. In an interview with The Verge, AMD gaming head Frank Azor said that it partnered with Bethesda to “prioritize” AMD’s FSR upscaling tech but it does not demand exclusivity.
“If they want to do DLSS, they have AMD’s full support,” Azor said. He was reportedly very careful with his choice of words during the interview so as not to place a spotlight on Bethesda. “We want to be very careful not to put this answer onto our partners,” he stated.
Azor admits that AMD pays publishers to bundle their titles with new graphics cards. In return, AMD expects the developers to prioritize the use of their technology in games. “Money absolutely exchanges hands,” he revealed. “When we do bundles, we ask them: ‘Are you willing to prioritize FSR?'”
AMD’s gaming head also shared that it is generally more of a request than a demand to prioritize the use of the company’s technologies and that they will not hesitate to give the thumbs up should the developer want to add Nvidia technology. “If they ask us for DLSS support, we always tell them yes.”
Bethesda has been elusive when it comes to questions about adding DLSS to Starfield. With the game launching next week, the studio may be focusing on ironing out issues or preparing a day-one patch for the game. However, we hope that Bethesda will give us an update on DLSS support down the line.
The upside of AMD’s FSR upscaling technology is that it is card agnostic, meaning Nvidia-equipped gaming rigs can still use upsampling to improve framerates. There will be no framerate lock on PC while consoles will be limited only to 30 FPS. As a first-person shooter, gamers will prefer having the ability to push framerates higher on PC to get a better gameplay experience.
Starfield is coming to PC and Xbox Series X/S on September 6, 2023.
