diff --git a/Sources/Plasma/CoreLib/hsThread_Unix.cpp b/Sources/Plasma/CoreLib/hsThread_Unix.cpp
index 853ea3e5ac..2956fb4899 100644
--- a/Sources/Plasma/CoreLib/hsThread_Unix.cpp
+++ b/Sources/Plasma/CoreLib/hsThread_Unix.cpp
@@ -106,6 +106,8 @@ hsGlobalSemaphore::hsGlobalSemaphore(int initialValue, const ST::string& name)
 
         /* Named semaphore shared between processes */
         fPSema = sem_open(semName.c_str(), O_CREAT, 0666, initialValue);
+        // Unlink it immediately so it will be freed if we unexpectedly leave it locked
+        sem_unlink(semName.c_str());
         if (fPSema == SEM_FAILED)
         {
             hsAssert(0, "hsOSException");