Play 3.0.0 migration: java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: play.core.PlayVersion$.akkaVersion()

I'm migrating a Java + Scala Play Framework application from 2.9.x to Play 3.0.0. After updating to the new sbt plugin and adjusting application.conf for Pekko, I encountered this error on startup:

java.lang.NoSuchMethodError: 'java.lang.String play.core.PlayVersion$.akkaVersion()'
    at play.sbt.PlayAkkaHttpServer$<init>(Play.scala:115)
    at play.sbt.PlayAkkaHttpServer$<clinit>(Play.scala)
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
    at java.base/java.lang.Class.forName(Class.java:467)
    at sbt.internal.inc.ModuleUtilities$.getObject(ModuleUtilities.scala:24)

🔧 Environment

• Play version: 3.0.0
• SBT version: 1.10.1
• Scala version: 3.3.3
• Java version: 17
• Build Tool: sbt
• Plugin: sbt-play-ebean 7.1.0

📦 plugins.sbt

addSbtPlugin("org.playframework" % "sbt-plugin" % "3.0.0")
addSbtPlugin("com.typesafe.play" % "sbt-play-ebean" % "7.1.0")

🛠️ build.sbt

scalaVersion := "3.3.3"
libraryDependencies ++= Seq(

guice,

filters,

evolutions,

javaJdbc,

javaJdbc % Test,

"com.google.inject.extensions" % "guice-multibindings" % "4.2.3",

"javax.validation" % "validation-api" % "2.0.1.Final",

"org.projectlombok" % "lombok" % "1.18.36",

"org.postgresql" % "postgresql" % "42.7.4",

"jakarta.validation" % "jakarta.validation-api" % "3.1.0",

"org.hibernate" % "hibernate-validator" % "6.0.1.Final",

"org.hibernate" % "hibernate-validator-annotation-processor" % "6.0.1.Final",

"com.squareup.okhttp3" % "okhttp" % "4.12.0",

"com.squareup.okhttp3" % "logging-interceptor" % "4.12.0",

"org.apache.commons" % "commons-text" % "1.12.0",

"org.apache.commons" % "commons-math3" % "3.6.1",

"org.apache.commons" % "commons-lang3" % "3.17.0",

"com.fasterxml.jackson.core" % "jackson-databind" % "2.14.3",

"com.fasterxml.jackson.core" % "jackson-core" % "2.14.3",

"jakarta.el" % "jakarta.el-api" % "6.0.1",

"com.sun.el" % "el-ri" % "3.0.4",

"javax.el" % "javax.el-api" % "3.0.1-b06",

"io.sentry" % "sentry-logback" % "7.19.0"

)
resolvers ++= Seq(

Resolver.mavenLocal

)
javacOptions ++= Seq("-source", "17", "-target", "17")

⚙️ application.conf

play.server.provider = "play.core.server.PekkoHttpServerProvider"
play.evolutions.db.default.autoApply = true
logger.application = DEBUG
play.http.actionCreator = "actions.RequestLogger"

play.http.actionComposition.executeActionCreatorActionFirst = true
play.modules {

enabled += "play.filters.cors.CORSModule"

enabled += "play.filters.hosts.AllowedHostsModule"

enabled += "play.filters.gzip.GzipFilterModule"

enabled += "play.filters.headers.SecurityHeadersModule"

enabled += "tasks.StartupRunner"

}
play.db.prototype.hikaricp.initializationFailTimeout = 1

play.allowGlobalApplication = true
play.temporaryFile.reaper {

enabled = true

initialDelay = "5 minutes"

interval = "5 minutes"

olderThan = "30 minutes"

}
play.filters {

enabled = [

play.filters.gzip.GzipFilter,

play.filters.headers.SecurityHeadersFilter,

play.filters.hosts.AllowedHostsFilter,

play.filters.cors.CORSFilter

]
hosts.allowed = ["."]

gzip.contentType.whiteList = ["application/json"]

gzip.contentType.blackList = []
headers {

frameOptions = "DENY"

xssProtection = "1; mode=block"

contentTypeOptions = "nosniff"

permittedCrossDomainPolicies = null

contentSecurityPolicy = null

}
cors {

allowedOrigins = null

allowedHttpMethods = null

allowedHttpHeaders = null

}

}
play.http.parser.maxMemoryBuffer = 4MB
play.pekko {

actor.default-dispatcher.fork-join-executor {

parallelism-factor = 20.0

parallelism-max = 200

}
loggers = ["org.apache.pekko.event.slf4j.Slf4jLogger"]

logging-filter = "org.apache.pekko.event.slf4j.Slf4jLoggingFilter"

}

❓ Questions

• Why is Play still referencing PlayAkkaHttpServer even though I'm using Play 3.0.0?
• Is there any hidden dependency pulling in Akka HTTP?
• Do I need to explicitly add the play-pekko-http-server module in libraryDependencies?
• How can I verify that Akka has been completely removed from the classpath?

Any help resolving this error would be greatly appreciated. Let me know if you need more logs or a sample repo.