"Go Vacation" was announced at the 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) as the third entry in the "We Ski" series. Namco Bandai Games began development of the game in 2009, shortly after the release of "We Ski &amp; Snowboard" because the developers felt they had not given players a "complete sense" of winter in the previous game. When discussing ways to address this, the developers decided winter alone was not enough; they wanted to depict other seasons. Producer Kenya Kobayashi wanted the game to focus on the experience of going on a resort holiday, rather than strictly focusing on the minigames themselves. Part of the game's development was outsourced to other companies; the rest was done by Namco Bandai Games staff who had previously worked on the "Ridge Racer" series. After realizing the word "vacation" is frequently associated with relaxation, Kenya Kobayashi named the game "Go Vacation" to clarify that it is a game in which you must be active.