diff --git a/packages/google-container/src/v1/cluster_manager_client.ts b/packages/google-container/src/v1/cluster_manager_client.ts
index 816fa7cb3e3..664ec0c33e4 100644
--- a/packages/google-container/src/v1/cluster_manager_client.ts
+++ b/packages/google-container/src/v1/cluster_manager_client.ts
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import * as path from 'path';
 import {Transform} from 'stream';
 import {RequestType} from 'google-gax/build/src/apitypes';
 import * as protos from '../../protos/protos';
+import jsonProtos = require('../../protos/protos.json');
 /**
  * Client JSON configuration object, loaded from
  * `src/v1/cluster_manager_client_config.json`.
@@ -144,22 +145,7 @@ export class ClusterManagerClient {
       clientHeader.push(`${opts.libName}/${opts.libVersion}`);
     }
     // Load the applicable protos.
-    // For Node.js, pass the path to JSON proto file.
-    // For browsers, pass the JSON content.
-
-    const nodejsProtoPath = path.join(
-      __dirname,
-      '..',
-      '..',
-      'protos',
-      'protos.json'
-    );
-    this._protos = this._gaxGrpc.loadProto(
-      opts.fallback
-        ? // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-var-requires
-          require('../../protos/protos.json')
-        : nodejsProtoPath
-    );
+    this._protos = this._gaxGrpc.loadProtoJSON(jsonProtos);
 
     // Some of the methods on this service return "paged" results,
     // (e.g. 50 results at a time, with tokens to get subsequent