diff --git a/ovos_plugin_manager/utils/__init__.py b/ovos_plugin_manager/utils/__init__.py
index f3f59e0d..afde2f92 100644
--- a/ovos_plugin_manager/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/ovos_plugin_manager/utils/__init__.py
@@ -211,38 +211,30 @@ def find_plugins(plug_type: PluginTypes = None) -> dict:
 
 find_plugins._errored = []
 
-# compat with older python versions
-try:
-    from importlib_metadata import entry_points
-
-    def _iter_plugins(plug_type):
-        """
-        Yields all entry points for the specified plugin group.
-        
-        Parameters:
-            plug_type: The entry point group name to search for.
-        
-        Yields:
-            Entry points belonging to the specified group.
-        """
-        for entry_point in entry_points(group=plug_type):
-            yield entry_point
-except ImportError:
-
-    import pkg_resources  # deprecated in newer python versions
-
-    def _iter_plugins(plug_type):
-        """
-        Yield all entry points for the specified plugin group using pkg_resources.
-        
-        Parameters:
-            plug_type (str): The entry point group name to search for.
-        
-        Yields:
-            EntryPoint: Each discovered entry point in the specified group.
-        """
-        for entry_point in pkg_resources.iter_entry_points(plug_type):
-            yield entry_point
+# stdlib importlib.metadata (Python 3.8+) covers this project's own
+# `requires-python = ">=3.10"` -- the external importlib_metadata
+# backport package and the pkg_resources fallback are both unnecessary
+# now. Confirmed for real: a fresh venv without importlib_metadata
+# installed fell through to pkg_resources, which itself raised
+# ModuleNotFoundError -- setuptools no longer bundles pkg_resources by
+# default in recent releases (it's slated for removal entirely). Using
+# the stdlib module directly removes both failure modes at once, with
+# no new dependency to declare.
+from importlib.metadata import entry_points
+
+
+def _iter_plugins(plug_type):
+    """
+    Yields all entry points for the specified plugin group.
+
+    Parameters:
+        plug_type: The entry point group name to search for.
+
+    Yields:
+        Entry points belonging to the specified group.
+    """
+    for entry_point in entry_points(group=plug_type):
+        yield entry_point
 
 
 def _iter_entrypoints(plug_type: Union[str, PluginTypes]):