Here’s a fun one for fans of conspiracy theories. The former lead of AMD’s FSR upscaling technology, including the first version of FSR 4, has implied he won’t talk about the company’s reasoning behind not releasing the technology for older GPUs for fear of getting in trouble.
In response to a query over AMD’s failure to officially release the INT8 version of FSR, which supports older RDNA 2 and 3 generation graphics cards, Colin Riley posted the “I prefer not to speak. If I speak I am in big trouble” meme, featuring football manager Jose Mourinho.
Hey Colin, do yo know something about why AMD is gatekeeping FSR INT8 for Rdna 2/3 users?April 22, 2026
The whole FSR 4 on older AMD GPUs thing has been running for some time now, of course. It all started when AMD accidentally published the INT8 FSR 4 source code to its GPUOpen GitHub repository. FSR 4, which uses machine learning to upscale game graphics, is currently restricted to the latest RDNA 4 GPUs, which use an FP8 data format that’s not fully supported by RDNA 2 and 3 generations of AMD graphics.
Of course, thanks to machine learning—or AI, if you prefer—FSR 4 is vastly superior to previous versions of AMD’s FSR upscaling tech, which all relied on essentially hand-coded algorithms. Moreover, thanks to the Optiscaler community tool, it’s reasonably easy to get FSR 4 running on older AMD GPUs, albeit with some limitations.
As we understand it, the INT8 version of FSR 4 exists in order to support Sony’s PlayStation 5 Pro, the technology for which, in part, dates back to RDNA 2. Indeed, AMD SVP Jack Huynh officially confirmed FSR 4.1 is “built on the same neural network foundation as the upgraded PSSR for PS5 Pro.”
For now, the INT8 version of FSR 4 is only officially supported on the Sony PS5 Pro, not older PC GPUs. (Image credit: Sony)
Anyway, there has been much discussion on the subject of why AMD has not officially released the INT8 version of FSR, including direct comment on the matter from AMD itself, in which the company allowed at least the possibility of releasing it as an official beta. In that context, the former FSR development lead’s cryptic post on the subject will no doubt fan the flames of speculation.
Several theories are in circulation. One posits the usual evil-corporation narrative, suggesting that AMD wants to force gamers to upgrade to the latest RDNA 4 GPUs. Then there’s the idea that Sony has an exclusive deal with AMD to run the INT8 version of FSR on PlayStation consoles.
While anything is possible, the old adage of not invoking conspiracy where a mere cockup will suffice may apply. AMD may simply be too mean or insufficiently clued into gamers concerned to view any investment required to release FSR 4 for older GPUs as worthwhile.
Indeed, Colin Riley himself also commented on this aspect on X, saying, “It’s not the engineers: its leadership not understanding software, ecosystems, mindshare and gaming technologies. Basic stuff really, and doubt it will change.”
Given Riley’s recent senior technical role at AMD, that doesn’t sound very promising, does it? That said, I wouldn’t rule FSR 4 for older GPUs out. AMD has form when it comes to making a mess of this kind of thing. But it also often enough does the right thing, eventually. Here’s hoping.
