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| Pizza Syndicate | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Software 2000 |
| Publisher(s) | NA Activision Value Publishing EU Software 2000 |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release | NA 30 November 2000 EU 17 March 1999 |
| Genre(s) | Business simulation game |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Pizza Syndicate (released as Fast Food Tycoon in North America), is a business simulation game released in 1999 by Software 2000 and licensed to Activision Value Publishing. Similar to its predecessor Pizza Tycoon, Pizza Syndicate lets the player manage a pizza restaurant-chain business.
The game received an expansion pack, Mehr Biss (lit. more bite), for the German-speaking market, and a sequel, Fast Food Tycoon 2, in 2001.
Pizza Syndicate allows the player to customize their own character, making tradeoffs between personal traits, previous experience, age and wealth. The game allows for both open-ended and objective-driven gameplay.
Control over multiple levels of managing the company is provided, including picking restaurant locations, creating pizza recipes, interior design, global marketing and fast food advertising strategies, employee management, financing, and out-competing rivals.
In addition to being a restaurant business simulation game, Pizza Syndicate also incorporates a Mafia theme, where players can make use of an underground "syndicate" to achieve their goals. The player can choose to take their character on missions, where possible outcomes include the game-ending death of the player character.
Pizza Syndicate is a single-player game, with up to six AI opponents. The game has 20 city locations, and includes up to 140 interactive characters in each city, and soundtracks matching each city location.
IGN gave the game a rating of 7 out of 10 ("Good") in 2000, and stated "When you consider that this game goes for around $19.99, it's a pretty good deal if you like economic simulations. Fast Food Tycoon isn't a hard-core sim or anything, but it'll give you some hours of fun equal to what you paid for it."[1]
Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]
Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]
In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]
On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]
In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]
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