The game was designed by the German company Cybernetic Corporation[1] and Software 2000 in 1994,[2] and was published by Assemble Entertainment after its re-release in 2017.

It gives the player the option to choose among more than thirty different characters, to create one's own pizza, have cooking contests and modify the display of the restaurant and kitchen.

The player can call upon local mafia to sabotage competitor restaurants or get money from criminal activities such as weapon and drug dealing.

The original European version ("Pizza Connection") featured a graphical style very similar to MAD artist Don Martin.

[3] Microprose's adapted version ("Pizza Tycoon") for the American market distanced itself from this style due to copyright concerns with newly created characters in a different style modeled after famous people as Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan or Lenin.