diff --git a/pkg/apis/agones/v1/gameserver.go b/pkg/apis/agones/v1/gameserver.go
index 67eba0221d..2f5b10b99d 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/agones/v1/gameserver.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/agones/v1/gameserver.go
@@ -150,6 +150,8 @@ const (
 	// GameServerErroredAtAnnotation is an annotation that records the timestamp the GameServer entered the
 	// error state. The timestamp is encoded in RFC3339 format.
 	GameServerErroredAtAnnotation = agones.GroupName + "/errored-at"
+	// FinalizerName is the domain name and finalizer path used to manage garbage collection of the GameServer.
+	FinalizerName = agones.GroupName + "/controller"
 
 	// NodePodIP identifies an IP address from a pod.
 	NodePodIP corev1.NodeAddressType = "PodIP"
@@ -362,7 +364,7 @@ func (gs *GameServer) ApplyDefaults() {
 		gs.ObjectMeta.Annotations = map[string]string{}
 	}
 	gs.ObjectMeta.Annotations[VersionAnnotation] = pkg.Version
-	gs.ObjectMeta.Finalizers = append(gs.ObjectMeta.Finalizers, agones.GroupName)
+	gs.ObjectMeta.Finalizers = append(gs.ObjectMeta.Finalizers, FinalizerName)
 
 	gs.Spec.ApplyDefaults()
 	gs.applyStatusDefaults()
diff --git a/pkg/apis/agones/v1/gameserver_test.go b/pkg/apis/agones/v1/gameserver_test.go
index 91b2ded205..6563240b72 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/agones/v1/gameserver_test.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/agones/v1/gameserver_test.go
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@ func TestGameServerApplyDefaults(t *testing.T) {
 			assert.Equal(t, pkg.Version, test.gameServer.Annotations[VersionAnnotation])
 
 			spec := test.gameServer.Spec
-			assert.Contains(t, test.gameServer.ObjectMeta.Finalizers, agones.GroupName)
+			assert.Contains(t, test.gameServer.ObjectMeta.Finalizers, FinalizerName)
 			assert.Equal(t, test.expected.container, spec.Container)
 			assert.Equal(t, test.expected.protocol, spec.Ports[0].Protocol)
 			assert.Equal(t, test.expected.portRange, spec.Ports[0].Range)
diff --git a/pkg/gameservers/controller.go b/pkg/gameservers/controller.go
index 6f20f5ea53..d44cce42a3 100644
--- a/pkg/gameservers/controller.go
+++ b/pkg/gameservers/controller.go
@@ -455,12 +455,12 @@ func (c *Controller) syncGameServerDeletionTimestamp(ctx context.Context, gs *ag
 	// remove the finalizer for this controller
 	var fin []string
 	for _, f := range gsCopy.ObjectMeta.Finalizers {
-		if f != agones.GroupName {
+		if f != agones.GroupName && f != agonesv1.FinalizerName {
 			fin = append(fin, f)
 		}
 	}
 	gsCopy.ObjectMeta.Finalizers = fin
-	loggerForGameServer(gsCopy, c.baseLogger).Debugf("No pods found, removing finalizer %s", agones.GroupName)
+	loggerForGameServer(gsCopy, c.baseLogger).Debugf("No pods found, removing finalizer %s", agonesv1.FinalizerName)
 	gs, err = c.gameServerGetter.GameServers(gsCopy.ObjectMeta.Namespace).Update(ctx, gsCopy, metav1.UpdateOptions{})
 	return gs, errors.Wrapf(err, "error removing finalizer for GameServer %s", gsCopy.ObjectMeta.Name)
 }
diff --git a/pkg/gameservers/controller_test.go b/pkg/gameservers/controller_test.go
index 7eb740776a..7d40f5ee9f 100644
--- a/pkg/gameservers/controller_test.go
+++ b/pkg/gameservers/controller_test.go
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ func TestControllerCreationMutationHandler(t *testing.T) {
 			expected: expected{
 				responseAllowed: true,
 				patches: []jsonpatch.JsonPatchOperation{
-					{Operation: "add", Path: "/metadata/finalizers", Value: []interface{}{"agones.dev"}},
+					{Operation: "add", Path: "/metadata/finalizers", Value: []interface{}{"agones.dev/controller"}},
 					{Operation: "add", Path: "/spec/ports/0/protocol", Value: "UDP"}},
 			},
 		},