diff --git a/src/common/rendering/v_video.cpp b/src/common/rendering/v_video.cpp
index 869d992191..ab9a2c0fc2 100644
--- a/src/common/rendering/v_video.cpp
+++ b/src/common/rendering/v_video.cpp
@@ -103,8 +103,9 @@ CUSTOM_CVAR(Int, vid_preferbackend, 1, CVAR_ARCHIVE | CVAR_GLOBALCONFIG | CVAR_N
 	{
 #ifdef HAVE_GLES2
 	case 3:
-	case 2:
 		self = 2;
+		return; // beware of recursions here. Assigning to 'self' will recursively call this handler again.
+	case 2:
 		Printf("Selecting OpenGLES 2.0 backend...\n");
 		break;
 #endif