diff --git a/templates/plugin/gemspec.tt b/templates/plugin/gemspec.tt
index 1693c584..5afa6230 100644
--- a/templates/plugin/gemspec.tt
+++ b/templates/plugin/gemspec.tt
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |spec|
   spec.test_files    = spec.files.grep(%r{^(test|spec|features)/})
   spec.require_paths = ["lib"]
 
-  spec.add_runtime_dependency "lita", "~> <%= config[:required_lita_version] %>"
+  spec.add_runtime_dependency "lita", ">= <%= config[:required_lita_version] %>"
 
   spec.add_development_dependency "bundler", "~> 1.3"
   spec.add_development_dependency "rake"