diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 9e9e8c53a4..71bd74b6cb 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -585,7 +585,7 @@ if(UNIX)
 endif()
 
 if(ENABLE_SDL)
-  dolphin_find_optional_system_library(SDL2 Externals/SDL 2.30.9)
+  dolphin_find_optional_system_library(SDL2 Externals/SDL 2.28.5)
 endif()
 
 if(ENABLE_ANALYTICS)
diff --git a/Distribution/SDL2/SDL2.json b/Distribution/SDL2/SDL2.json
deleted file mode 100644
index 4c1821b742..0000000000
--- a/Distribution/SDL2/SDL2.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "name": "SDL2",
-  "buildsystem": "autotools",
-  "config-opts": ["--disable-static"],
-  "sources": [
-    {
-      "type": "dir",
-      "path": "../../Externals/SDL/SDL"
-    }
-  ],
-  "cleanup": [ "/bin/sdl2-config",
-               "/include",
-               "/lib/libSDL2.la",
-               "/lib/libSDL2main.a",
-               "/lib/libSDL2main.la",
-               "/lib/libSDL2_test.a",
-               "/lib/libSDL2_test.la",
-               "/lib/cmake",
-               "/share/aclocal",
-               "/lib/pkgconfig"]
-}
diff --git a/Distribution/flatpak.yml b/Distribution/flatpak.yml
index cf0e343fdc..0ba81d9d78 100644
--- a/Distribution/flatpak.yml
+++ b/Distribution/flatpak.yml
@@ -96,10 +96,6 @@ modules:
         url: https://github.com/Unrud/xdg-screensaver-shim/archive/0.0.2.tar.gz
         sha256: 0ed2a69fe6ee6cbffd2fe16f85116db737f17fb1e79bfb812d893cf15c728399
 
-
-  # build the vendored SDL2 from Externals until the runtime gets 2.30.9
-  - SDL2/SDL2.json
-  
   - name: dolphin-mpn
     buildsystem: cmake-ninja
     config-opts:
diff --git a/Externals/SDL/CMakeLists.txt b/Externals/SDL/CMakeLists.txt
index 185f1ed930..d49d62d3ad 100644
--- a/Externals/SDL/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Externals/SDL/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ option(SDL_TEST "Build the SDL2_test library" OFF)
 option(SDL_TEST_ENABLED_BY_DEFAULT "" OFF)
 
 # SDL fails to clean up old headers after version upgrades, so do that manually
-set(EXPECTED_SDL_REVISION "SDL-release-2.30.9-0")
+set(EXPECTED_SDL_REVISION "SDL-release-2.28.5-0")
 if (EXISTS "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/SDL/include/SDL2/SDL_revision.h")
   file(READ "${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/SDL/include/SDL2/SDL_revision.h" ACTUAL_SDL_REVISION)
   if (NOT "${ACTUAL_SDL_REVISION}" MATCHES "${EXPECTED_SDL_REVISION}")