Digital Foundry Receives Death Threats Regarding NVIDIA DLSS 5 Coverage

Digital Foundry, a well-known tech analysis platform famous for its detailed evaluations of gaming performance, recently found itself in a firestorm of controversy following its coverage of NVIDIA’s DLSS 5 technology. The backlash was significant enough that members of the Digital Foundry team reported receiving death threats. In light of these events, the founder, Richard Leadbetter, reflected on the situation, admitting that they should have postponed their initial impressions.

Having been granted early access to DLSS 5 through NVIDIA demonstrations, Digital Foundry released their first impressions via video. However, this content was met with extensive criticism from viewers who believed the analysis did not adequately examine the technology’s implications.

As discussions heated up online, many accused Digital Foundry of failing to critically scrutinize NVIDIA’s portrayals and promises concerning DLSS 5. Critics pointed to a growing perception that the technology implemented an unrealistic “beauty filter” on character models, diverging from the original artistic intentions of game developers.

NVIDIA’s CEO, Jensen Huang, responded to the criticism, labeling it as “completely wrong.”

Digital Foundry Denounces Threats

In a subsequent video segment of DF Direct, the team addressed the backlash, readily acknowledging the valid points raised about their coverage. Leadbetter, expressing regret, stated, “I’m going to kick off first of all by holding my hand up and saying that yeah, we understand a lot of the feedback to the video, and I don’t think we did a good enough job on the day.”

He emphasized the constraints they faced, noting the rapid transition from viewing the demos to producing the video.“We needed extra time to talk with our teammates and come to a consensus about what we’re dealing with here, good and bad, before we put something on the record, and we didn’t do that, ” he added.

Despite the criticism they received for the initial video, Digital Foundry firmly condemned the extreme and violent reactions from some viewers.“You’re really not going to make your point effectively by actively threatening or sending death threats to the DF team. This is crossing the line and totally unacceptable, ” the team affirmed.

John Linneman, a contributor to Digital Foundry who had expressed disappointment regarding the original coverage, chose not to participate in the follow-up video. He later took to social media to clarify his stance, reaffirming his alignment with the viewpoints presented by his colleagues.

I think this video does a good job explaining the viewpoints of the team but I wanted to make sure it was clear that I wasn’t feeling up to participate yet thus not in the video. I will share my own thoughts soon but my opinions largely mirror what Alex says in this video! https://t.co/WMvfRTYJyf

— John Linneman (@dark1x) March 18, 2026

In his statement, Linneman expressed that while the video captured the team’s perspectives well, he had not felt ready to contribute to the discussion at that time. He indicated that he would soon share his own insights, which align closely with his colleague’s opinions shared in the video.

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