diff --git a/.github/workflows/scripts/bump_version.py b/.github/workflows/scripts/bump_version.py
index ee744a73f..5aab114a1 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/scripts/bump_version.py
+++ b/.github/workflows/scripts/bump_version.py
@@ -4,11 +4,10 @@ import sys
 from typing import Match
 
 import redbot
-from redbot._version import __version__
 
 
 if int(os.environ.get("JUST_RETURN_VERSION", 0)):
-    print(f"::set-output name=version::{__version__}")
+    print(f"::set-output name=version::{redbot._VERSION}")
     sys.exit(0)
 
 
@@ -31,12 +30,12 @@ def repl(match: Match[str]) -> str:
         version_info.micro += 1
         version_info.dev_release = 1
 
-    return f'__version__ = "{version_info}"'
+    return f'_VERSION = "{version_info}"'
 
 
-with open("redbot/_version.py", encoding="utf-8") as fp:
+with open("redbot/__init__.py", encoding="utf-8") as fp:
     new_contents, found = re.subn(
-        pattern=r'^__version__ = "(?P<version>[^"]*)"$',
+        pattern=r'^_VERSION = "(?P<version>[^"]*)"$',
         repl=repl,
         string=fp.read(),
         count=1,
@@ -44,10 +43,10 @@ with open("redbot/_version.py", encoding="utf-8") as fp:
     )
 
 if not found:
-    print("Couldn't find `__version__` line!")
+    print("Couldn't find `_VERSION` line!")
     sys.exit(1)
 
-with open("redbot/_version.py", "w", encoding="utf-8", newline="\n") as fp:
+with open("redbot/__init__.py", "w", encoding="utf-8", newline="\n") as fp:
     fp.write(new_contents)
 
 print(f"::set-output name=new_version::{version_info}")
diff --git a/redbot/__init__.py b/redbot/__init__.py
index ff5ea7eae..1a8690f04 100644
--- a/redbot/__init__.py
+++ b/redbot/__init__.py
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@ from typing import (
     Union as _Union,
 )
 
-from redbot._version import _get_version
-
 
 MIN_PYTHON_VERSION = (3, 8, 1)
 
@@ -199,6 +197,50 @@ class VersionInfo:
             "dev={dev_release}, local={local_version})"
         ).format(**self.to_json())
 
+    @classmethod
+    def _get_version(cls, *, ignore_installed: bool = False) -> _Tuple[str, "VersionInfo"]:
+        if not _VERSION.endswith(".dev1"):
+            return _VERSION, cls.from_str(_VERSION)
+        try:
+            import os
+
+            path = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__)))
+            # we only want to do this for editable installs
+            if not os.path.exists(os.path.join(path, ".git")):
+                raise RuntimeError("not a git repository")
+
+            import subprocess
+
+            output = subprocess.check_output(
+                ("git", "describe", "--tags", "--long", "--dirty"),
+                stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL,
+                cwd=path,
+            )
+            _, count, commit, *dirty = output.decode("utf-8").strip().split("-", 3)
+            dirty_suffix = f".{dirty[0]}" if dirty else ""
+            ver = f"{_VERSION[:-1]}{count}+{commit}{dirty_suffix}"
+            return ver, cls.from_str(ver)
+        except Exception:
+            # `ignore_installed` is `True` when building with setuptools.
+            if ignore_installed:
+                # we don't want any failure to raise here but we should print it
+                import traceback
+
+                traceback.print_exc()
+            else:
+                try:
+                    from importlib.metadata import version
+
+                    ver = version("Red-DiscordBot")
+                    return ver, cls.from_str(ver)
+                except Exception:
+                    # we don't want any failure to raise here but we should print it
+                    import traceback
+
+                    traceback.print_exc()
+
+        return _VERSION, cls.from_str(_VERSION)
+
 
 def _update_event_loop_policy():
     if _sys.implementation.name == "cpython":
@@ -245,8 +287,10 @@ def _early_init():
     _ensure_no_colorama()
 
 
-__version__ = _get_version()
-version_info = VersionInfo.from_str(__version__)
+# This is bumped automatically by release workflow (`.github/workflows/scripts/bump_version.py`)
+_VERSION = "3.5.0.dev1"
+
+__version__, version_info = VersionInfo._get_version()
 
 # Filter fuzzywuzzy slow sequence matcher warning
 _warnings.filterwarnings("ignore", module=r"fuzzywuzzy.*")
diff --git a/redbot/_version.py b/redbot/_version.py
deleted file mode 100644
index 4f1ab1260..000000000
--- a/redbot/_version.py
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,38 +0,0 @@
-def _get_version(*, ignore_installed: bool = False) -> str:
-    if not __version__.endswith(".dev1"):
-        return __version__
-    try:
-        import os
-        import subprocess
-
-        path = os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(os.path.dirname(__file__)))
-        output = subprocess.check_output(
-            ("git", "describe", "--tags", "--long", "--dirty"),
-            stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL,
-            cwd=path,
-        )
-        _, count, commit, *dirty = output.decode("utf-8").strip().split("-", 3)
-        dirty_suffix = f".{dirty[0]}" if dirty else ""
-        return f"{__version__[:-1]}{count}+{commit}{dirty_suffix}"
-    except Exception:
-        # `ignore_installed` is `True` when building with setuptools.
-        if ignore_installed:
-            # we don't want any failure to raise here but we should print it
-            import traceback
-
-            traceback.print_exc()
-        else:
-            try:
-                from importlib.metadata import version
-
-                return version("Red-DiscordBot")
-            except Exception:
-                # we don't want any failure to raise here but we should print it
-                import traceback
-
-                traceback.print_exc()
-
-    return __version__
-
-
-__version__ = "3.5.0.dev1"
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index 69e1d67e0..0a6e94a23 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@ from setuptools import setup
 # Since we're importing `redbot` package, we have to ensure that it's in sys.path.
 sys.path.insert(0, os.path.abspath(os.path.dirname(__file__)))
 
-from redbot._version import _get_version
+from redbot import VersionInfo
 
-version = _get_version(ignore_installed=True)
+version, _ = VersionInfo._get_version(ignore_installed=True)
 
 if os.getenv("TOX_RED", False) and sys.version_info >= (3, 10):
     # We want to be able to test Python versions that we do not support yet.