diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 6b254da9..a6c80067 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ set_package_properties(PlasmaWaylandProtocols PROPERTIES
 
 find_package(LibKWorkspace CONFIG REQUIRED)
 find_package(Libudev REQUIRED)
-find_package(SDL3 REQUIRED)
+find_package(SDL3)
 
 find_package(KWinDBusInterface)
 set_package_properties(KWinDBusInterface PROPERTIES DESCRIPTION "KWin DBus interface"
diff --git a/components/CMakeLists.txt b/components/CMakeLists.txt
index 54a46bdb..7089b1ce 100644
--- a/components/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/components/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -14,4 +14,6 @@ add_subdirectory(wallpaperimageplugin)
 add_subdirectory(dpmsplugin)
 add_subdirectory(screenbrightnessplugin)
 add_subdirectory(raiselockscreenplugin)
-add_subdirectory(gamingshellplugin)
+if(SDL3_FOUND)
+    add_subdirectory(gamingshellplugin)
+endif()
diff --git a/components/gamingshellplugin/CMakeLists.txt b/components/gamingshellplugin/CMakeLists.txt
index d9846ad6..54726339 100644
--- a/components/gamingshellplugin/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/components/gamingshellplugin/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 # SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 2026 Marco Allegretti
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: EUPL-1.2
 
-find_package(SDL3 REQUIRED)
 find_package(Qt6 REQUIRED COMPONENTS Sql DBus)
 
 ecm_add_qml_module(gamingshellplugin URI org.kde.plasma.private.mobileshell.gamingshellplugin GENERATE_PLUGIN_SOURCE)