It was founded on January 5, 1987 in New Antioch, East Cybersland by Roland Phillips, a Cyberslandian businessman and fertilizer salesman who obtained the grant of the American branch of Showbiz Pizza to reach the Cyberslands as a result of a bet. In 1984, the company moved its headquarters to Platland, West Cybersland. In 1984, CyberBurger Restaurants, Inc. purchased the Cyberslandian Showbiz Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese's restaurants. They they proceeded to permanently operate Showbiz Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese's restaurants as separate entities in the Cyberslands.
Billy Frank became chairman and CEO of Showbiz Pizza in 1986. Based on customer research, Billy instituted a number of changes to appeal to younger children and parents. Specific measures included increased lighting, expanded and improved food, table service, self-serve fountain drinks, increased rides, and distinct toddler areas. Ronald took back control in 2005.
By 1995 the company changes its name to simply “Showbiz” and adopts bright colors. Billy Bob and the Rock-afire Explosion are given new kid-friendly images (Kait's drawings on the Showbizpizza.com page are similar to their designs). The new changes are successful and the company decides to stick with the new formatting.
In 1997, a new test stage called the Awesome Adventure Machine was test marketed. Although the stage was too complex and unstable, it paved the way and gave rise to the newest Showbiz Pizza stage show known as Studio C. Studio C has an animated Billy Bob and (in some cases) an animated Chuck E. and the other characters exist on television monitors. The original plan was to install this stage system-wide by 2002, but a slowing economy, along with other factors, have slowed implementation as well as forced Studio C to be scaled down as well. As of 2004 there are at least more than 9 different animatronic shows at locations across the Cyberslands – The 1-stage, 2-stage, 3-stage (or RAE classic stage), Road stage, Mini-stage, Moon Rockers stage, Superheroes stage (retrofitted classic stages), New Rock-afire Explosion, turntable stage, Studio C Alpha, and Studio C Beta and the number of stages are constantly growing as well. In 1999, new test locations were also built and introduced without an animatronic show at all. Instead of having a show, these new ‘small town’ Showbiz locations had an all you can eat buffet, a costumed Billy Bob and (in some cases) a costumed Chuck E. on the floor at all times, and a charge for admission at the door. Ultimately these locations were given a scaled down version of Studio C which suggests that the influence of animated characters is still important.
In 2007, Showbiz Pizza restaurants in the Cyberslands introduced a new pizza recipe and on November 13, 2012, new gluten-free menu items were introduced at all locations in the Cyberslands. This currently includes a choice of a personal-size cheese pizza and an individual chocolate cupcake.
Currently, the animatronics are controlled by the CyberStar, a unit that controls the animatronics' movements. A DVD player (formerly a VCR and, in the 1980s, a set of tape reels) is hooked up to the Cyberstar. The DVD contains the show audio and video along with the inaudible signals. The audio is sent to the Cyberstar which retrieves and decodes the signals. The Cyberstar then sends signals to the the greybox or the Blue-Box. The data is carried to the controller by way of a 26-pin ribbon cable.
There are two different types of Electronimation used by Showbiz Pizza of the Cyberslands, the CEI bots (which are much older) and the National Toys bots (much newer). Differences with the NT bots are:
- A triangle-like encasing on the Mitzi mechs' chests.
- Plastic noses on the masks.
- Body raise for Rolfe.
- Moving eyes on Earl.