Zynga serves up ‘next-gen social game’ ChefVille

Zynga is set to release a new browser title which it has labelled as the first in the next generation of social games.

ChefVille allows players to run their own restaurants and learn new recipes as they expand their business.

Recipes learnt in game can be uploaded to Facebook with players able to use more than 50 of them in reali life. It is this feature that Zynga general manager Jonathan Knight claims makes the title a next generation social game.

Cultural cuisines featured in ChefVille include Thai, Japanese, traditional USA foods and Italian.

Players can progress through the game via a series of quests and completing various recipes by collecting ingredients, also unlocking new areas to obtain new foods from.

Users can also visit their friends’ restaurants as a customer and learn new cuisines.

After showcasing the title to Develop, Knight gave assurances that ChefVille would not mean the end of the company’s similar offering, Café World.

He said that the developer was still dedicated to the title’s userbase which currently stands at 600,000 daily active users, and there were no plans afoot to close the game down.

The cooking title will be released on Facebook this week, whilst it will also be launched on Zynga.com at a later date.

Zynga will be hoping that ChefVille can help kickstart the company’s growth once again after the social gaming giant’s shares have struggled somewhat in recent months since it launched its IPO.