Editing Pyst (section)

===Release===
Before the game's release, Bergman and the Parroty Interactive marketing department were both secretive about game-related information; Bergman said that this was unusual experience for him.<ref name=":3" /> The game was originally planned for release on October 15, 1996.<ref name=":3" /> Released for Christmas 1996, ''Pyst'' remained on the CD-ROM best-seller list through 1999, according to the ''Official Millennium Survival Handbook''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mocDD2SFyZMC|title=Official Millennium Survival Handbook: Don't Wait Till the End of the World to Get It|last1=Bergman|first1=Peter|last2=Samson|first2=David|last3=Rudnitsky|first3=David A.|date=February 1, 2001|publisher=SP Books|isbn=9781561719952|language=en}}</ref> The game was "highly successful";<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.firesigntheatre.com/fstonweb/cosmik_firesign/ft-act1.html|title=Firesign Theatre Interview (Cosmik Debris)|website=www.firesigntheatre.com|access-date=September 11, 2016|archive-date=April 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410165941/http://www.firesigntheatre.com/fstonweb/cosmik_firesign/ft-act1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> in 1997 Palladium's vice president of marketing Rob Halligan said that ''Pyst'' was "tremendously successful last Christmas and continues to sell well".<ref name="BusinessWire19971021" /> A [[Mindscape (company)|Mindscape]] press release issued through ''[[Business Wire]]'' said the game was the "top-selling parody product of 1996", selling over 200,000 copies worldwide.<ref name="BusinessWire19970508" /> There was a website extension to the game, which allowed players to further interact with the game by "download[ing] updated video and audio clips and chat[ing] with other ''Pyst'' aficionados",<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Labriola|first=Don|date=March 1, 1997|title=You've obsessed over Myst, now chill out with Pyst.|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19135477.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161008194555/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19135477.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 8, 2016|journal=Computer Shopper}}</ref> the game being the first product by Palladium to include [[Dial-up Internet access|dial-up access]] to [[AT&T WorldNet Service]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Palladium+Interactive,+Publisher+of+the+Blockbuster+Parody+PYST,+Inks...-a018845421|title=Palladium Interactive, Publisher of the Blockbuster Parody PYST, Inks Deal with AT&T WorldNet Service; Beginning with PYST, Palladium to Utilize AT&T WorldNet Service on all its CD-ROM Products. – Free Online Library|website=www.thefreelibrary.com|access-date=September 11, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151206075506/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Palladium+Interactive%2c+Publisher+of+the+Blockbuster+Parody+PYST%2c+Inks...-a018845421|archive-date=December 6, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Hal Josephson, executive producer for ''Pyst'', said that there were few business models at the time for how to make money online.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K-JUAAAAMAAJ&q=%2522Pyst%2522+%2522myst%2522|title=Communication Arts|date=January 1, 1997|publisher=Coyne & Blanchard|language=en}}</ref> In 1998, after Parroty's acquisition by The Learning Company, Palladium founder and chief executive officer Ed Bernstein said that "it was a fun business, but not terribly lucrative".<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Learning-Company-Acquires-Again-Palladium-makes-2975919.php | title=Learning Company Acquires Again / Palladium makes genealogy software | date=December 1998}}</ref>