Kakao Pulls the Plug on Tapas, Ending North America's Webtoon Platform

Kakao Entertainment is shutting down Tapas, the North American webtoon and web-fiction platform it acquired for roughly $510 million back in 2021, as part of a broader consolidation of its digital comics business. Kakao Webtoon, the company's other English-language app, is reportedly closing alongside it, with both properties folding into Kakao's international operations rather than continuing as standalone U.S. products.

Tapas built its identity on creator-owned webcomics and serialized fiction, hosting the original run of Solo Leveling before its manhwa adaptation became a global phenomenon, along with a deep bench of indie horror, romance, and fantasy series that never found a home with the bigger print publishers. No exact shutdown date has been confirmed, and it's unclear what happens to the archive of creator work already hosted on the platform.

The closure lands as yet another contraction in the crowded webtoon space, following years of platforms chasing the runaway success of properties like Solo Leveling without translating that into sustainable, standalone businesses. For readers and creators who built followings on Tapas, the immediate question is where that work - and that audience - migrates next.

Source: The Beat