diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index c063363e..429a299d 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-3-Clause
 
-VERSION=$(shell git describe --abbrev=8 --dirty 2>/dev/null || cat VERSION)
+VERSION=$(shell git describe --abbrev=8 --dirty 2>/dev/null || echo 0.11.3)
 WADS=wads
 CPP=scripts/simplecpp
 DEUTEX=deutex
diff --git a/VERSION b/VERSION
deleted file mode 100644
index 8a2b9627..00000000
--- a/VERSION
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
-v0.11.3
diff --git a/scripts/makejson b/scripts/makejson
index 42f171ed..e127e6ff 100755
--- a/scripts/makejson
+++ b/scripts/makejson
@@ -34,9 +34,6 @@ json_file = os.getenv("JSON")
 if version is None:
     sys.stderr.write("Version is not specified for release\n")
     sys.exit(1)
-if version[0] is "v":
-    # Strip the leading 'v' from versioning
-    version = version[1:]
 
 if json_file is None:
     sys.stderr.write("JSON file not specified!\n")
diff --git a/scripts/makepkgs b/scripts/makepkgs
index b1a005c9..b6fa89f8 100755
--- a/scripts/makepkgs
+++ b/scripts/makepkgs
@@ -24,9 +24,6 @@ version = os.getenv("VERSION")
 if version is None:
     sys.stderr.write("Version not specified for release\n")
     sys.exit(1)
-if version[0] is "v":
-    # Strip the leading 'v' from versioning
-    version = version[1:]
 
 path = os.path.dirname(FILES[0])
 basename = os.path.basename(FILES[0])