The game was first announced in July 2001 for a winter release under the provisional title ""Project Zero"". The game's Japanese title was inspired by the nature of the game's enemies as "beings of nothingness", along with it representing the state of someone being at their utmost during a decisive moment. It could also be read alternately as "zero" and "ghost". The game was initially dated for December 7, but Tecmo later shifted the date forward to December 13. As part of the promotion campaign, two special giveaways were created and sold through Japanese media store Tsutaya: headphones given away to winners of a lottery, and a trial version available to rent. In addition to this, a novelization written from the point of view of Mafuyu was published by ASCII Media Works.