diff --git a/osu.Game.Rulesets.Catch/Objects/CatchHitObject.cs b/osu.Game.Rulesets.Catch/Objects/CatchHitObject.cs
index 95ffd41518..548813fbd2 100644
--- a/osu.Game.Rulesets.Catch/Objects/CatchHitObject.cs
+++ b/osu.Game.Rulesets.Catch/Objects/CatchHitObject.cs
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ namespace osu.Game.Rulesets.Catch.Objects
 
             Scale = 1.0f - 0.7f * (difficulty.CircleSize - 5) / 5;
         }
+
+        protected override HitWindows CreateHitWindows() => null;
     }
 
     public enum FruitVisualRepresentation
diff --git a/osu.Game/Rulesets/Objects/HitObject.cs b/osu.Game/Rulesets/Objects/HitObject.cs
index d7d827bc97..cd612a5387 100644
--- a/osu.Game/Rulesets/Objects/HitObject.cs
+++ b/osu.Game/Rulesets/Objects/HitObject.cs
@@ -100,8 +100,11 @@ namespace osu.Game.Rulesets.Objects
 
         /// <summary>
         /// Creates the <see cref="HitWindows"/> for this <see cref="HitObject"/>.
+        /// This can be null to indicate that the <see cref="HitObject"/> has no <see cref="HitWindows"/>.
+        /// <para>
         /// This will only be invoked if <see cref="HitWindows"/> hasn't been set externally (e.g. from a <see cref="BeatmapConverter"/>.
+        /// </para>
         /// </summary>
-        protected virtual HitWindows CreateHitWindows() => null;
+        protected virtual HitWindows CreateHitWindows() => new HitWindows();
     }
 }