diff --git a/pkg/payload/payload.go b/pkg/payload/payload.go
index 0b6e746f7..94f046e70 100644
--- a/pkg/payload/payload.go
+++ b/pkg/payload/payload.go
@@ -308,12 +308,6 @@ func loadPayloadMetadata(releaseDir, releaseImage string) (*Update, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	release.Image = releaseImage
-
-	imageRef, err := loadImageReferences(releaseDir)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
-	}
 
 	arch := string(release.Architecture)
 	if arch == "" {
@@ -321,6 +315,13 @@ func loadPayloadMetadata(releaseDir, releaseImage string) (*Update, error) {
 		klog.V(2).Infof("Architecture from %s (%s) retrieved from runtime: %q", cincinnatiJSONFile, release.Version, arch)
 	}
 
+	release.Image = releaseImage
+
+	imageRef, err := loadImageReferences(releaseDir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
 	if imageRef.Name != release.Version {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Version from %s (%s) differs from %s (%s)", imageReferencesFile, imageRef.Name, cincinnatiJSONFile, release.Version)
 	}
@@ -358,6 +359,17 @@ func loadPayloadTasks(releaseDir, cvoDir, releaseImage, clusterProfile string) [
 	}}
 }
 
+// RootPath represents a path to the directory containing the payload
+type RootPath string
+
+const DefaultRootPath = RootPath(DefaultPayloadDir)
+
+// LoadReleaseMetadata loads the release metadata from the appropriate location inside the payload directory
+func (p RootPath) LoadReleaseMetadata() (configv1.Release, error) {
+	releaseDir := filepath.Join(string(p), ReleaseManifestDir)
+	return loadReleaseMetadata(releaseDir)
+}
+
 func loadReleaseMetadata(releaseDir string) (configv1.Release, error) {
 	var release configv1.Release
 	path := filepath.Join(releaseDir, cincinnatiJSONFile)
diff --git a/pkg/start/start.go b/pkg/start/start.go
index 6fb92c684..9b2af53c7 100644
--- a/pkg/start/start.go
+++ b/pkg/start/start.go
@@ -189,6 +189,31 @@ func (o *Options) Run(ctx context.Context) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	payloadRoot := payload.DefaultRootPath
+	if o.PayloadOverride != "" {
+		payloadRoot = payload.RootPath(o.PayloadOverride)
+	}
+
+	cvoOcpVersion := "0.0.1-snapshot"
+	// Peek at the local release metadata to determine the version of OCP this CVO belongs to. This assumes the CVO is
+	// executing in a container from the payload image. Full payload content is only read later once leader lease is
+	// acquired, and here we should only read as little data as possible to determine the version so we can establish
+	// enabled feature gate checker for all following code.
+	//
+	// We cannot refuse to start CVO if for some reason we cannot determine the OCP version on startup from the local
+	// release metadata. The only consequence is we fail to determine enabled/disabled feature gates and will have to use
+	// some defaults.
+	releaseMetadata, err := payloadRoot.LoadReleaseMetadata()
+	switch {
+	case err != nil:
+		klog.Warningf("Failed to read release metadata to determine OCP version for this CVO (will use placeholder version %q): %v", cvoOcpVersion, err)
+	case releaseMetadata.Version == "":
+		klog.Warningf("Version missing from release metadata, cannot determine OCP version for this CVO (will use placeholder version %q): %v", cvoOcpVersion, err)
+	default:
+		cvoOcpVersion = releaseMetadata.Version
+		klog.Infof("Determined OCP version for this CVO: %q", cvoOcpVersion)
+	}
+
 	// initialize the controllers and attempt to load the payload information
 	controllerCtx, err := o.NewControllerContext(cb)
 	if err != nil {