The game started development in August of 2017.
After Saints Row IV (2013) was released, the developers felt that they went too far with the wacky style of that game. This reboot was intended to get the series back into a more serious tone that still contained a lot of humor, similar to Saints Row 2 (2008).
Final game developed by Volition before the studio was shut down on August 31, 2023.
Baby Driver (2017), Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw (2019) and John Wick (Otro día para matar) (2014) served as the main inspiration for the game.
The working title of the game was "Saints Row Cinco".