diff --git a/packages/playwright-core/src/remote/playwrightConnection.ts b/packages/playwright-core/src/remote/playwrightConnection.ts
index 005918f686a07..d3b8f1762a78b 100644
--- a/packages/playwright-core/src/remote/playwrightConnection.ts
+++ b/packages/playwright-core/src/remote/playwrightConnection.ts
@@ -220,10 +220,7 @@ export class PlaywrightConnection {
     }
 
     if (!browser) {
-      browser = await playwright[(this._options.browserName || 'chromium') as 'chromium'].launch(serverSideCallMetadata(), {
-        ...this._options.launchOptions,
-        headless: !!process.env.PW_DEBUG_CONTROLLER_HEADLESS,
-      });
+      browser = await playwright[(this._options.browserName || 'chromium') as 'chromium'].launch(serverSideCallMetadata(), this._options.launchOptions);
       browser.on(Browser.Events.Disconnected, () => {
         // Underlying browser did close for some reason - force disconnect the client.
         this.close({ code: 1001, reason: 'Browser closed' });
@@ -287,8 +284,6 @@ function launchOptionsHash(options: LaunchOptions) {
     if (copy[key] === defaultLaunchOptions[key])
       delete copy[key];
   }
-  for (const key of optionsThatAllowBrowserReuse)
-    delete copy[key];
   return JSON.stringify(copy);
 }
 
@@ -300,7 +295,3 @@ const defaultLaunchOptions: LaunchOptions = {
   headless: true,
   devtools: false,
 };
-
-const optionsThatAllowBrowserReuse: (keyof LaunchOptions)[] = [
-  'headless',
-];
diff --git a/tests/library/debug-controller.spec.ts b/tests/library/debug-controller.spec.ts
index fc1f224335c8b..855709a11ae44 100644
--- a/tests/library/debug-controller.spec.ts
+++ b/tests/library/debug-controller.spec.ts
@@ -30,7 +30,6 @@ type Fixtures = {
 
 const test = baseTest.extend<Fixtures>({
   wsEndpoint: async ({ }, use) => {
-    process.env.PW_DEBUG_CONTROLLER_HEADLESS = '1';
     const server = new PlaywrightServer({ path: '/' + createGuid(), maxConnections: Number.MAX_VALUE, enableSocksProxy: false });
     const wsEndpoint = await server.listen();
     await use(wsEndpoint);