The core development team of Among Us consisted of three people: Forest Willard, Marcus Bromander, and Amy Liu. They worked together at the indie studio Innersloth, with Willard handling programming, Bromander contributing game design and art, and Liu focusing on art and animation.
Development began in November 2017. The project started as a mobile-only local multiplayer game inspired by the party game Mafia and the film The Thing. The team initially planned one map and tested the game with eight friends before release.
Among Us launched for Android and iOS in June 2018, but its initial audience was tiny, averaging only about 30 to 50 concurrent players. Its popularity exploded in 2020, when streamers and online creators introduced the game to a much wider audience.
The number three refers to the original core creators, not the entire staff involved in later updates, publishing, community management, or console versions. It is also unrelated to the maximum number of Impostors, which can vary by game settings and player count.