Hitman Go was developed by Canadian video game studio Square Enix Montreal.[1] It is the first game from the developer, which was founded in late 2011 by employees of existing Square Enix Europe studios.[1][10] Upon establishment, the studio announced that their first project would be a new video game in the Hitman franchise.[10] The studio's original aspiration was creating triple-A console games within the series and expanding to a team size of 150 people.[1][10][11] After a year, while the team was still expanding, the console game was cancelled and the studio shifted its focus to mobile games.[1][11][12] This transition led to around one third of the staff leaving the development team.[12]