diff --git a/extension/tools/release/release.go b/extension/tools/release/release.go
index f064026dd6..7f1d4cd986 100644
--- a/extension/tools/release/release.go
+++ b/extension/tools/release/release.go
@@ -210,12 +210,11 @@ func runPackage(cmd *command, args []string) {
 
 	checkWD()
 
-	requireTools("jq", "npx", "gh", "git")
+	requireTools("npx")
 
 	tagName := requireEnv("TAG_NAME")
 
 	version, isPrerelease := releaseVersionInfo(tagName)
-	checkPackageJSON(tagName, isPrerelease)
 	outDir := prepareOutputDir(cmd.lookupFlag("out").String())
 	vsix := filepath.Join(outDir, fmt.Sprintf("go-%s.vsix", version))
 	buildPackage(version, tagName, isPrerelease, vsix)
@@ -423,7 +422,6 @@ func buildPackage(version, tagName string, isPrerelease bool, output string) {
 	}
 	if isPrerelease {
 		args = append(args, "--pre-release")
-
 	}
 	args = append(args, version)
 
diff --git a/extension/tools/release/testdata/package-v0.43.0.golden b/extension/tools/release/testdata/package-v0.43.0.golden
index 25add26561..686ad2cfdb 100644
--- a/extension/tools/release/testdata/package-v0.43.0.golden
+++ b/extension/tools/release/testdata/package-v0.43.0.golden
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-jq -r .version package.json
 cp ../README.md README.md
 npx vsce package -o /tmp/artifacts/go-0.43.0.vsix --baseContentUrl https://github.com/golang/vscode-go/raw/v0.43.0 --baseImagesUrl https://github.com/golang/vscode-go/raw/v0.43.0 --no-update-package-json --no-git-tag-version --pre-release 0.43.0
diff --git a/extension/tools/release/testdata/package-v0.44.0-rc.1.golden b/extension/tools/release/testdata/package-v0.44.0-rc.1.golden
index cf64dfb0d6..a050e706b1 100644
--- a/extension/tools/release/testdata/package-v0.44.0-rc.1.golden
+++ b/extension/tools/release/testdata/package-v0.44.0-rc.1.golden
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-jq -r .version package.json
 cp ../README.md README.md
 npx vsce package -o /tmp/artifacts/go-0.44.0-rc.1.vsix --baseContentUrl https://github.com/golang/vscode-go/raw/v0.44.0-rc.1 --baseImagesUrl https://github.com/golang/vscode-go/raw/v0.44.0-rc.1 --no-update-package-json --no-git-tag-version --pre-release 0.44.0-rc.1
diff --git a/extension/tools/release/testdata/package-v0.44.0.golden b/extension/tools/release/testdata/package-v0.44.0.golden
index 120583d64e..bbcf4ba669 100644
--- a/extension/tools/release/testdata/package-v0.44.0.golden
+++ b/extension/tools/release/testdata/package-v0.44.0.golden
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-jq -r .version package.json
 cp ../README.md README.md
 npx vsce package -o /tmp/artifacts/go-0.44.0.vsix --baseContentUrl https://github.com/golang/vscode-go/raw/v0.44.0 --baseImagesUrl https://github.com/golang/vscode-go/raw/v0.44.0 --no-update-package-json --no-git-tag-version 0.44.0