Hideo Kojima Pushes Back on DLSS 5 Comparisons for Death Stranding 2

Hideo Kojima, the director behind Death Stranding 2, says he has mixed feelings about NVIDIA's AI-powered DLSS 5, Inven Global reported. Fans had been sending him comparisons of the technology running on his game.

Kojima on the Death Stranding 2 comparisons

Kojima told his co-hosts that DLSS 5 can make computer-generated characters near the uncanny valley look like real people. It caused a buzz, he said. People kept telling him the game did not need the tech and looked a little odd with it switched on.

Hibi asked whether Death Stranding 2 was already ahead of the technology. Kojima disagreed. The look comes from wanting the actors to appear at their best, he said, rather than from technology.

His team keeps refining the lighting on each shot, and could not do that with actors they did not love.

Kotaku notes that official DLSS 5 support for Death Stranding 2 has not been announced. It presumes Kojima was referring to the leaked version of the tech that circulated at the end of August. That version drew a divided response.

Concerns about AI changing finished work

Kojima said that as a creator he has mixed feelings. He acknowledged AI is good at restoring and colourising old photographs. It could eventually replace remakes and hand-done 4K film restorations, he suggested.

His worry is about intent. As the person who made the original, he said, he would not want someone altering it too much. He chose a particular lighting setup for a reason.

Things might feel different if the AI understood those choices, or if he were the one controlling it in his own work.

Kojima said he expects the technology to become standard, with AI built into cameras and automatically improving images. He does not much like the idea.

A shifting public stance on AI

In May 2026 he appeared in an AI-generated Prada advert alongside director Nicolas Winding Refn. In June, he said he was not interested in AI.

Other news from the episode

Inven Global reported that Physint, the action espionage game announced in 2024, has a new partner in Xbox, with Bill Skarsgård as its lead. Filming on horror game OD began in June.

It runs until the end of the year, after a Screen Actors Guild strike delayed production.

The live-action Death Stranding film with A24 is starting location scouting. Two animated projects are in production.

Kojima Productions will mark its 10th anniversary with Beyond the Strand, an exhibition at Azabudai Hills Gallery in Tokyo from October 31 to December 20.

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