diff --git a/ovos_audio/playback.py b/ovos_audio/playback.py
index 68bf5a9..f07beab 100644
--- a/ovos_audio/playback.py
+++ b/ovos_audio/playback.py
@@ -32,7 +32,10 @@ def __init__(self, queue=TTS.queue, bus=None):
         self._now_playing = None
         self._started = Event()
         self.tts_transform = TTSTransformersService(self.bus)
-        self.g2p: Optional[Grapheme2PhonemePlugin] = OVOSG2PFactory.create()
+        try:
+            self.g2p: Optional[Grapheme2PhonemePlugin] = OVOSG2PFactory.create()
+        except:  # not mission critical
+            self.g2p = None
 
     @property
     def is_running(self):