diff --git a/platformio/package/manifest/parser.py b/platformio/package/manifest/parser.py
index 71f63c79..64d52cbe 100644
--- a/platformio/package/manifest/parser.py
+++ b/platformio/package/manifest/parser.py
@@ -186,8 +186,8 @@ class BaseManifestParser(object):
             or not isinstance(examples, list)
             or not all(isinstance(v, dict) for v in examples)
         ):
-            examples = None
-        if not examples and self.package_dir:
+            data["examples"] = None
+        if not data["examples"] and self.package_dir:
             data["examples"] = self.parse_examples_from_dir(self.package_dir)
         if "examples" in data and not data["examples"]:
             del data["examples"]
diff --git a/tests/package/test_manifest.py b/tests/package/test_manifest.py
index 0197e662..90e2f6c7 100644
--- a/tests/package/test_manifest.py
+++ b/tests/package/test_manifest.py
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ def test_library_json_parser():
     "build": {
         "flags": ["-DHELLO"]
     },
+    "examples": ["examples/*/*.pde"],
     "customField": "Custom Value"
 }
 """