diff --git a/Code/Sandbox/Editor/EditorViewportWidget.cpp b/Code/Sandbox/Editor/EditorViewportWidget.cpp
index 436d4bba63..6214ede3cc 100644
--- a/Code/Sandbox/Editor/EditorViewportWidget.cpp
+++ b/Code/Sandbox/Editor/EditorViewportWidget.cpp
@@ -456,15 +456,6 @@ void EditorViewportWidget::Update()
         return;
     }
 
-    static bool sentOnWindowCreated = false;
-    if (!sentOnWindowCreated && windowHandle()->isActive())
-    {
-        sentOnWindowCreated = true;
-        AzFramework::WindowSystemNotificationBus::Broadcast(
-            &AzFramework::WindowSystemNotificationBus::Handler::OnWindowCreated,
-            reinterpret_cast<AzFramework::NativeWindowHandle>(winId()));
-    }
-
     m_updatingCameraPosition = true;
     if (!ed_useNewCameraSystem)
     {
diff --git a/Gems/Atom/Bootstrap/Code/Source/BootstrapSystemComponent.cpp b/Gems/Atom/Bootstrap/Code/Source/BootstrapSystemComponent.cpp
index e3bdb28046..012a229fe8 100644
--- a/Gems/Atom/Bootstrap/Code/Source/BootstrapSystemComponent.cpp
+++ b/Gems/Atom/Bootstrap/Code/Source/BootstrapSystemComponent.cpp
@@ -123,6 +123,12 @@ namespace AZ
 
                     m_windowHandle = m_nativeWindow->GetWindowHandle();
                 }
+                else
+                {
+                    // Disable default scene creation for non-games projects
+                    // This can be manually overridden via the DefaultWindowBus.
+                    m_createDefaultScene = false;
+                }
 
                 AzFramework::AssetCatalogEventBus::Handler::BusConnect();
                 TickBus::Handler::BusConnect();
@@ -351,6 +357,17 @@ namespace AZ
                     scene->AddRenderPipeline(brdfTexturePipeline);
                 }
 
+                // Send notification when the scene and its pipeline are ready.
+                // Use the first created pipeline's scene as our default scene for now to allow
+                // consumers waiting on scene availability to initialize.
+                if (!m_defaultSceneReady)
+                {
+                    m_defaultScene = scene;
+                    Render::Bootstrap::NotificationBus::Broadcast(
+                        &Render::Bootstrap::NotificationBus::Handler::OnBootstrapSceneReady, m_defaultScene.get());
+                    m_defaultSceneReady = true;
+                }
+
                 return true;
             }
 
@@ -364,9 +381,6 @@ namespace AZ
                 {
                     m_renderPipelineId = pipeline->GetId();
                 }
-
-                // Send notification when the scene and its pipeline are ready
-                Render::Bootstrap::NotificationBus::Broadcast(&Render::Bootstrap::NotificationBus::Handler::OnBootstrapSceneReady, m_defaultScene.get());
             }
 
             void BootstrapSystemComponent::DestroyDefaultScene()
diff --git a/Gems/Atom/Bootstrap/Code/Source/BootstrapSystemComponent.h b/Gems/Atom/Bootstrap/Code/Source/BootstrapSystemComponent.h
index 7323a54221..65390ff153 100644
--- a/Gems/Atom/Bootstrap/Code/Source/BootstrapSystemComponent.h
+++ b/Gems/Atom/Bootstrap/Code/Source/BootstrapSystemComponent.h
@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ namespace AZ
                 Data::Instance<RPI::AttachmentImage> m_brdfTexture;
 
                 bool m_createDefaultScene = true;
+                bool m_defaultSceneReady = false;
 
                 // Maps AZ scenes to RPI scene weak pointers to allow looking up a ScenePtr instead of a raw Scene*
                 AZStd::unordered_map<AzFramework::Scene*, AZStd::weak_ptr<AZ::RPI::Scene>> m_azSceneToAtomSceneMap;