PlayStation Plus Subscribers Officially Treated To Free Upgrade From Deluxe To Premium

Published Oct 22, 2026, 7:40 AM EDT

Tom Wilson is a Gaming Features Writer at Screen Rant. Over the past five years, Tom has worked as the Editor-in-Chief at The Game Crater, as a Staff Writer for GamingIntel, a List Writer at TheGamer, and, of course, as a Senior Writer at ScreenRant. Tom has experience writing reviews, guides, news, and features, and has been responsible for teams of writers, training them and editing their work.

Tom graduated with a Masters in Multimedia Journalism, and has since gone on to build up his portfolio of games journalism work.

PlayStation Plus subscribers are used to being sidelined when it comes to exciting new deals and discounts, as, despite being a part of the service for a long time, they're rarely prioritized by Sony. Of course, this is compensated for by the string of new games joining PS Plus, but it is understandably frustrating, especially for those who opt to subscribe unknowingly just before a massive discount is offered to newcomers.

However, that is changing, at least this once, with a new move to upgrade existing Deluxe tier members to PlayStation Plus' Premium tier. This move is obviously a good one that massively benefits fans still on the former tier, as it grants them access to all of the benefits Premium members get without needing to pay any extra. The best part is that you don't need to do anything in order to get the upgrade, as Sony is automating the process entirely.

PlayStation Plus Deluxe is a unique tier that is available in certain regions where it doesn't support cloud streaming. It's ostensibly PS Plus Premium without the ability to stream your games. So, you still have access to the Classics Catalog, time-limited trials for upcoming or new games, and the assorted benefits the tiers below get. It was, until recently, the top tier available in South Korea, although Sony has now rectified that by finally offering cloud streaming to the region.

The best part is that, as aforementioned, anyone in South Korea still on the Deluxe PlayStation Plus tier will be automatically upgraded to PlayStation Plus Premium for no added cost. This move makes sense, as the introduction of the Premium tier all but invalidates the Deluxe tier, which is already quite costly in South Korea. It is a surprising move, one that showcases Sony's cautious interest in investing in the region, as implementing the infrastructure required to cater to cloud streaming is expensive and resource-heavy.

The only caveat is that PS Plus cloud streaming in South Korea only supports PlayStation 5 games. This means PS3 games in the aforementioned Classics Catalog and even PlayStation 4 games can't be streamed in the region. Of course, all of the best PS5 games on the platform that support the feature will be available, so at least there's that. Sony's desire to invest more in the South Korean gaming industry may also be playing a role in its decision to flesh out the PlayStation Plus offerings in the region.

It helped publish the immensely successful Stellar Blade by South Korean studio Shift Up and heavily marketed the likes of Crimson Desert and Lies of P. Sony has also praised the development of South Korean games in the past, with the VP and head of second and third-party content ventures and strategic initiatives at SIE, Christian Svensson, telling The Game Business that "the pace at which I'm seeing teams in China and South Korea move is astonishing," and that their approach to game design and even the games they're producing "is very different than the stuff that we've seen before."

This is obviously a huge win for South Korean PlayStation Plus subscribers and will likely have a ripple effect for other regions that don't currently have access to PlayStation's cloud streaming service. Hopefully it also bodes well for the future relationship between Sony and other South Korean studios, who are undeniably producing some of the most exciting games releasing today, many of which, thankfully, are also available on PlayStation Plus.