SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 19, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zynga, (Nasdaq:ZNGA), the world's leading provider of social game services, and Food Network today announced a partnership to bring Robert Irvine, host of Food Network's Restaurant: Impossible to ChefVille. Beginning today, Irvine will face his biggest challenge yet as he helps ChefVille players enhance their in-game establishments by mastering dishes from around the world, while improving their restaurants.
ChefVille, which launched in August and is already the No. 1 game on Facebook, is Zynga's new take on restaurant games, delivering players an experience that mixes self-expression, ingredient crafting and exploration, as well as real recipes that offer more opportunities for players to connect with friends and family outside of the game.
"We're constantly looking at unique ways to bring the online and offline worlds of our players together in more meaningful ways, so we were delighted to partner with Food Network and Robert Irvine," said Jonathan Knight, General Manager of ChefVille, Zynga. "The lure of owning a restaurant is more popular than ever. Robert is not only driving the mainstream popularity of cooking, but also has the culinary chops to help players bring their dream of owning a successful restaurant to life in ChefVille."
Throughout the next two weeks, ChefVille players can go on a series of quests cooked up by Irvine – everything from ingredient cultivation and specialization to dish mastery and customer service – without the actual growing pains of owning a real restaurant. Similar to his role on Restaurant: Impossible, Irvine will guide ChefVille players along the way, providing tips and tricks – and a little tough love when necessary. Players will instantly recognize Irvine in the game thanks to a muscle-bound, bespectacled avatar he developed with the ChefVille team.
"As an avid fan of social games I am extremely excited about partnering with Zynga on this interactive culinary journey," said Robert Irvine. "Zynga continues to be a pioneering force in the world of social gaming. I couldn't be more honored to have an avatar of myself and Restaurant: Impossible be a part of ChefVille, as we lend insight to players on what it takes to create their dream restaurant while earning my approval."
Restaurant: Impossible, currently in its fourth season, is one of Food Network's most popular shows – giving television viewers a front row seat as they watch Irvine attempt to save America's most desperate restaurants from impending failure in just two days with only $10,000. In ChefVille, Irvine will help players avoid the common pitfalls that restaurateurs often run into – from under-seasoned dishes and outdated décor to budgetary constraints.
Robert Irvine ChefVille quests include:
- Gather ingredients – Players are challenged to source key ingredients for their recipes – ranging from produce such as garlic, onions and tomatoes to beef – to complete dishes including paninis and bruschetta.
- Spice it up – Players learn the value of a pinch of salt, using it to amp up the flavor in their dishes, while adding a dash of Thyme to speed up the cooking process.
- Call on your neighbors – Draw inspiration from friends by visiting their restaurants to borrow ideas for your own restaurant design, as well as access ingredients you might not have.
- The VIP treatment –Players can serve up VIP Service by serving customers dishes, sending them flowers and bringing in outside entertainment like musicians.
A native of England, Robert joined the British Royal Navy at the age of 15 and his skills in the kitchen soon came to the attention of his superiors. During his time training U.S. Navy chefs as part of a guest chef program, Robert worked in the White House kitchen and his creations were served to high-ranking government officials. During his career, he has also had the opportunity to serve 6,000 servicemen and women on a U.S. aircraft carrier and plan the menu for a celebrity-studded after-party at the Academy Awards. Robert is also the author of two cookbooks, "Mission: Cook!" and "Impossible to Easy."
Beyond the ChefVille integration, for the first time ever Zynga will be featured in a commercial slated to air on Food Network during Restaurant: Impossible show times.
ChefVille is free to play on Facebook at: http://apps.facebook.com/ChefVille, and it will be launching soon on Zynga.com.
ChefVille Restaurant: Impossible commercials can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgxDP2SlD0Q
The ChefVille logo and images can be found here: https://zynga.box.com/s/l39cigrpmjf4svk6qjg0
The ChefVille gametrailer can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfYKf8Fsv0A
More information can also be found via the Zynga blog at http://www.zynga.com/about/blog.php.
About Zynga Inc.
Zynga Inc. (Nasdaq:ZNGA) is the world's leading provider of social game services with 306 million monthly active users playing its games, which include FarmVille, Words With Friends, Matching With Friends, Scramble With Friends, The Ville, Bubble Safari, Ruby Blast, Draw Something, Zynga Slingo, CastleVille, CityVille, Hidden Chronicles, Zynga Poker, Zynga Bingo, Zynga Slots, Empires & Allies, The Pioneer Trail, and Mafia Wars. Zynga's games are available on a number of global platforms, including Facebook, Zynga.com, Google+, Tencent, Apple iOS and Google Android. Through Zynga.org, Zynga players have raised more than $10 million for world social causes. Zynga is headquartered in San Francisco, Calif.
The Zynga Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=11743
Food Network
FOOD NETWORK (www.foodnetwork.com) is a unique lifestyle network, website and magazine that connects viewers to the power and joy of food. The network strives to be viewers' best friend in food and is committed to leading by teaching, inspiring and empowering through its talent and expertise. Food Network is distributed to more than 100 million U.S. households and averages more than 9.9 million unique web users monthly. Since launching in 2009, Food Network Magazine has tripled its rate base and delivers a circulation of 1.45 million. Headquartered in New York, Food Network has a growing international presence with programming in more than 150 countries, including 24 hour networks in Great Britain, India, Asia and Africa. Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE:SNI), which also owns and operates Cooking Channel (www.cookingchanneltv.com), DIY Network (www.diynetwork.com), Great American Country (www.gactv.com), HGTV (www.hgtv.com), and Travel Channel (www.travelchannel.com), is the manager and general partner.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements relating to, among other things, our partnership with Food Network, upcoming features for ChefVille and the success of ChefVille; building and expanding the Zynga platform and Zynga With Friends Network; the continued success of our franchise games and our games, platform and network generally; and our future operational plans, prospects and opportunities to expand our business. Forward-looking statements often include words such as "outlook," "projected," "will," "anticipate," "believe," "expect," and statements in the future tense are generally forward-looking statements. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results could differ materially from those predicted or implied, and reported results should not be considered as an indication of our future performance. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, our relationship with Facebook or changes in the Facebook platform, our ability to launch new games in a timely manner and monetize these games, our ability to control expenses, competition, changing interests of players, intellectual property disputes or other litigation, asset impairment charges, our ability to anticipate and address technical challenges that may arise, acquisitions by us and changes in corporate strategy or management.
More information about factors that could affect our operating results is included under the captions "Risk Factors" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2011, in our registration statement on Form S-1, as amended, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 23, 2012 and in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three months ended June 30, 2012, copies of which may be obtained by visiting our Investor Relations web site at http://investor.zynga.com or the SEC's web site at www.sec.gov. Undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking statements in this release, which are based on information available to us on the date hereof. We assume no obligation to update such statements.