According to CyberConnect2 chief executive officer Hiroshi Matsuyama about the playable character Hanabi Hyuga, when they were making the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games for the PlayStation 2, Hanabi barely made any appearances in the manga. Because the lack of female characters in the Ultimate Ninja series, CyberConnect2 suggested to Shueisha, the company that produces Shonen Jump, to include Hanabi into the game and showed them how they wanted to present Hanabi and the moves she would use.
Another reason Hanabi was included in the game was because she had just appeared in "The Last: Naruto the Movie", where Naruto's manga artist Masashi Kishimoto presented her characteristics and what she's like in the movie. The team also drew inspiration and came up with ideas from anime episodes of both sisters Hinata and Hanabi together in some of the show's storylines for the game.