diff --git a/src/citra_qt/CMakeLists.txt b/src/citra_qt/CMakeLists.txt
index 5d1664a318..502531fca8 100644
--- a/src/citra_qt/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/src/citra_qt/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -224,6 +224,12 @@ target_link_libraries(citra-qt PRIVATE audio_core common core input_common netwo
 target_link_libraries(citra-qt PRIVATE Boost::boost glad nihstro-headers Qt5::OpenGL Qt5::Widgets Qt5::Multimedia)
 target_link_libraries(citra-qt PRIVATE ${PLATFORM_LIBRARIES} Threads::Threads)
 
+target_compile_definitions(citra-qt PRIVATE
+    # Use QStringBuilder for string concatenation to reduce
+    # the overall number of temporary strings created.
+    -DQT_USE_QSTRINGBUILDER
+)
+
 if (CITRA_ENABLE_COMPATIBILITY_REPORTING)
     target_compile_definitions(citra-qt PRIVATE -DCITRA_ENABLE_COMPATIBILITY_REPORTING)
 endif()
diff --git a/src/citra_qt/game_list_p.h b/src/citra_qt/game_list_p.h
index b3f4733971..0309ed083d 100644
--- a/src/citra_qt/game_list_p.h
+++ b/src/citra_qt/game_list_p.h
@@ -192,7 +192,7 @@ public:
             if (row_2_id != UISettings::GameListText::NoText) {
                 row2 = (row1.isEmpty() ? "" : "\n     ") + display_texts.at(row_2_id);
             }
-            return row1 + row2;
+            return QString(row1 + row2);
         } else {
             return GameListItem::data(role);
         }