diff --git a/bin/generate-api b/bin/generate-api
index 4ea3fc884..093d6aa0c 100755
--- a/bin/generate-api
+++ b/bin/generate-api
@@ -38,9 +38,7 @@ module Google
       generate_from_url(options[:url]) if options[:url]
       generate_from_file(options[:file]) if options[:file]
       generate_from_discovery(preferred_only: options[:preferred_only]) if options[:from_discovery]
-      if options[:names_out]
-        create_file(options[:names_out]) { |*| generator.dump_api_names } unless File.exist? options[:names_out]
-      end
+      create_file(options[:names_out]) { |*| generator.dump_api_names } if options[:names_out]
     end
 
     desc 'list', 'List public APIs'