diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 5413c2706..cf6d7ecf5 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -807,17 +807,6 @@ if(MSVC)
     )
 endif()
 
-# Workaround for Windows ARM64 build:
-# Vcpkg fails to automatically link FFmpeg and SDL2 to the sub-targets for this architecture.
-# We will manually find the packages here and link them to the core library,
-# which will make them available to all executables that depend on core.
-# NOTE: This block must be placed BEFORE add_subdirectory(src)
-if (MSVC AND ARCHITECTURE_arm64)
-    message(STATUS "Applying manual linking workaround for Windows ARM64")
-    find_package(FFmpeg 4.3 REQUIRED COMPONENTS avcodec avfilter swscale avutil)
-    find_package(SDL2 2.26.4 REQUIRED)
-endif()
-
 add_subdirectory(src)
 
 # Apply the Boost.Process definition to the core target if it was found
@@ -825,13 +814,15 @@ if(DEFINED HAS_BOOST_PROCESS_DEFINITION)
     target_compile_definitions(core PRIVATE ${HAS_BOOST_PROCESS_DEFINITION})
 endif()
 
-# Continue the ARM64 workaround by linking the found packages to the 'core' target
-# This must be placed AFTER add_subdirectory(src) where 'core' is defined
+# Workaround for Windows ARM64 build:
+# Vcpkg fails to automatically link FFmpeg and SDL2 to the sub-targets for this architecture.
+# We will manually link the libraries to the core library, which will make them available
+# to all executables that depend on core. This must be placed AFTER add_subdirectory(src).
 if (MSVC AND ARCHITECTURE_arm64)
+    message(STATUS "Applying manual linking workaround for Windows ARM64")
     target_link_libraries(core PRIVATE FFmpeg::avcodec FFmpeg::avfilter FFmpeg::swscale FFmpeg::avutil SDL2::SDL2)
 endif()
 
-
 # Apply PGO configuration to main targets
 if(CITRON_ENABLE_PGO_GENERATE OR CITRON_ENABLE_PGO_USE)
     if(TARGET citron)