diff --git a/launcher-package/src/universal/bin/sbt.bat b/launcher-package/src/universal/bin/sbt.bat
index 13bdbb5d3..35587934f 100755
--- a/launcher-package/src/universal/bin/sbt.bat
+++ b/launcher-package/src/universal/bin/sbt.bat
@@ -926,6 +926,11 @@ for /f "delims=.-_ tokens=1-2" %%v in ("!JAVA_VERSION!") do (
 
 rem parse the first two segments of sbt.version and set run_native_client to
 rem 1 if the user has also indicated they want to use native client.
+rem sbt new/init should not use native client as it needs to run outside a project
+if defined sbt_new (
+  set run_native_client=
+  exit /B 0
+)
 set sbtV=!build_props_sbt_version!
 set sbtBinaryV_1=
 set sbtBinaryV_2=
diff --git a/sbt b/sbt
index 8bf51783a..a3a29ae20 100755
--- a/sbt
+++ b/sbt
@@ -805,6 +805,11 @@ detectNativeClient() {
 
 # Run native client if build.properties points to 1.4+ and has SBT_NATIVE_CLIENT
 isRunNativeClient() {
+  # sbt new/init should not use native client as it needs to run outside a project
+  if [[ "$sbt_new" == "true" ]]; then
+    echo "false"
+    return
+  fi
   sbtV="$build_props_sbt_version"
   [[ "$sbtV" == "" ]] && sbtV="$init_sbt_version"
   [[ "$sbtV" == "" ]] && sbtV="0.0.0"