diff --git a/src/XMLReader.cpp b/src/XMLReader.cpp
index d8cf5da28..e6d915ce7 100644
--- a/src/XMLReader.cpp
+++ b/src/XMLReader.cpp
@@ -215,6 +215,10 @@ void updateGamelist(SystemData* system)
 	}else{
 		//set up an empty gamelist to append to
 		doc.append_child("gameList");
+
+		//make sure the folders leading up to this path exist (or the XML file write will fail later on)
+		boost::filesystem::path path(xmlpath);
+		boost::filesystem::create_directories(path.parent_path());
 	}