diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/index.js b/packages/playwright-core/index.js
index 4b9607bba4..e26fc7e3bd 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/index.js
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/index.js
@@ -14,4 +14,5 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
+require('./lib/utils/verifyNodeJsVersion');
 module.exports = require('./lib/inprocess');
diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/verifyNodeJsVersion.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/verifyNodeJsVersion.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dd57188b40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/utils/verifyNodeJsVersion.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+const currentNodeVersion = process.versions.node;
+const semver = currentNodeVersion.split('.');
+const [major] = [+semver[0]];
+
+if (major < 12) {
+  console.error(
+      'You are running Node.js ' +
+      currentNodeVersion +
+      '.\n' +
+      'Playwright requires Node.js 12 or higher. \n' +
+      'Please update your version of Node.js.'
+  );
+  process.exit(1);
+}
+
+export {};