News of Tapas shutting down came last week, but official news of the fate of all the webtoons hosted on it has not been forthcoming from parent company Kakao – until just moments ago whenmade this announcement on social media:
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT
After more than a decade, the very difficult decision to wind down the Tapas platform has been made.
We know this news may come as a surprise to the Tapas community, and we understand that this is a significant change for the readers, creators, and partners who have been part of Tapas over the years.
With this transition, users can no longer acquire Ink starting October 1, 2026. Users will be able to use any remaining Ink until March 31, 2027.
The end of service date is March 31, 2027.
Thank you for being part of Tapas and for making this community what it is today. We’re incredibly grateful to the creators who trusted us with their stories and to the readers who supported those stories and helped them reach new audiences. The countless stories, connections, and communities built here will always be an important part of Tapas.
tapas
We understand that you may have questions following the recent End of Service announcement. We’ve put together the FAQ below to address some of the most common questions we’ve received.
We may not have answers to every question at this time. We will continue to update this FAQ as additional information becomes available, so please check back for the latest updates.
A.) Important Dates and End of Service
What are key dates I need to be aware of?
Last day to use Ink: March 31, 2027 at 23:59 PT
Last day to unlock episodes: March 31, 2027 at 23:59 PT
Last day to access content: March 31, 2027 at 23:59 PT
End of Tapas service: March 31, 2027 at 23:59 PT
The announcement also states that content can not to read on Kakao Page – and there will be no refunds. It also has contact information….which might be quite busy.
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If you are a creator: Please review the Tapas Creator Inquiry Form to see if your inquiry is covered. If your question is not addressed by the form, please email help@tapasent.com.
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If you are a Tapas user: Please email feedback@tapas.io.
Meanwhile creators and readers continue to express alarm….and other platforms are trying to fill the gap.
From the FAQ it sounds like Kakao will not be importing any US material into their planned integration of Kakao Webtoon with Kakao Page, a Facebook-like Korean social media platform. They did release a statement in Korean, which showed up in a brief translated tweet.
Kakao Webtoon ➡️ Kakao Page transfer planned webtoon.kakao.com/more/notice?fo
▪︎Cash, collection rights, rental rights, purchased works, reading history, recent views, favorites, comments Transfer
▪︎Discontinued works, duplicate purchases Paid in cash
A story at IT Chosen, reported on BY IGN,
The move will consolidate the company’s webtoon and web novel operations on a single platform.
KakaoPage is expected to gain thousands of webtoon and web novel properties currently spread across the services. The company also plans to combine its creator and partner networks, along with its content production, technology, marketing and operations capabilities, as part of the consolidation.
The integration will also bring together user payment and subscription data from the different platforms. According to the report, Kakao Entertainment plans to use the combined information for a new AI-based content recommendation system. The company also intends to centralise its ability to turn web novels and webtoons into other forms of entertainment, including dramas, films, performances and games.
Kakao’s own statement can be seen here – but Google Translate isn’t helping, so any Beat readers who are bi-lingual…we need your aid.
With the sundowning of the Tapas site officially announced, more statements from creators are bound to come out, but in the meantime, Chang Kim, the ORIGINAL founder of Tapas (then known as Comic Panda) posted a statement on LinkedIn:
Many folks reached out to me regarding the recent news about Kakao shutting down Tapas and rolling it into its Korean service, KakaoPage. It’s not really my business anymore, as I left Tapas many years ago and I’m fully focused on my current company, Saywise, but I just wanted to share a few unorganized thoughts.
– Why this sudden change? I don’t quite get it. The app is still doing well (#2 top grossing in the category). I don’t know what happened, but I suspect their desire to control things more centrally from HQ, which was very clear from day one after the acquisition, might have finally won out.
– A better PR could have helped the narrative: They didn’t prepare a thoughtful announcement for users and creators first. Instead, users and creators found out about it through the business news. They lost the chance to share the facts and control the narrative. Technically, the service is being consolidated, not vanishing altogether. There might still be a chance for user data and credits to be recognized (we’ll see). But the more sensational “shutting down” narrative prevailed. They let this sound so much worse than it is.
– Founder presence: They let the acquired company languish for years without proper leadership and investment. It’s all about whether you have someone who can turn on founder mode. It doesn’t have to be the original founder. It can be anybody who is fully dedicated and empowered to make it work.
– M&A 101: When we sold the company in 2021, we were doing nearly $40M ARR and were profitable. Let the acquired company thrive by preserving what’s been working well, and support it only where you can add value. Having “HQ” try to control things more centrally can work in theory. But in practice, you risk killing the unique recipe that made the service successful in the first place.
The sad truth is that Kakao bought two successful, profitable platforms, Tapas and Radish, and soon neither one will exist.
And incredibly, Kakao has sold WuxiaWorld, another company it acquired in its buying spree, to its original founder, announced back on September 20. Wuxiaworld is a platform for translations of Chinese fantasy novels and light novels.
Ren is back – tell a friend.
Hi y’all! To keep things relatively simple, this is just a formal announcement that there has been a change in management and ownership. As of the start of last week, I (RWX, original founder of Wuxiaworld) have completed a buyback of Wuxiaworld from Tapas Entertainment and am once more the 100% owner and operator of this company. I want to thank our partners at both Tapas as well as Tapas’ parent, Kakao Entertainment, for working with me to get this completed, and at rather breakneck speeds tbh, for reasons that will become apparent in the days to come.
As you may suspect, this will have a quite a significant number of cascading effects on Wuxiaworld in the coming months. Some of you may have a lot of questions, and I’ll do my best to answer them in my habitual long-form post announcements that will be made in the upcoming weeks. For now, though – I just wanted to say how glad I am to see y’all again.
Wuxiaworld was acquired as part of Radish back in 2021, as part of Kakao’s ambitious plans to expand into North America.
Unfortunately, Tapas can’t have the same saving throw: Kim is busy at a new company, as he mentioned, Saywise, a kind of job-hunting resource site.
Meanwhile, Tapas creators are confused about the future and trying to find new homes for their work. Cartoonist Velinxi, creator of the popular Daughter of a Thousand Faces (published by InkLore) posted about it on Instagram:
So what happens now with my comics?
For the first version of Countdown to Countdown, I’ll be archiving it on Webtoon. CTC will otherwise be unaffected, as it is self-published.
For DPS Only!!! and Daughter of a Thousand Faces, I’m unsure. I’m still waiting to hear back from Tapas. The physical editions of the books will still be sold as normal, but I will do everything I can from my end to make sure DPSO and DOTF is still available to read online. As for Season 3, I’m certain it will be on hold for a while.
It’s not a very happy announcement, but it’s not a happy time either for the folks at Tapas and creators who were blindsided and now have their livelihoods at risk. Neither is it for the readers who have poured so much money and support into these stories.
No matter what happens, I have hope that webcomics will continue to thrive. I implore interested parties to see the merit of Tapas’s mission of bringing both translated and homegrown stories to an army of dedicated readers- who love and support us creators enough to build fandoms and careers.
In the meantime, I will continue working on Countdown to Countdown and many more stories. I’ll be doing my part in making sure webcomics aren’t going anywhere.
Leeane M. Krecic, creator of Let’s Play, posted her own statement:, accompanied by the “This is fine” dog:
Hi folks, I’m fully aware of the Tapas situation.
This came out of the blue for me, so I’m just as surprised as everyone else. I’m currently working on a solution, and my contacts at Tapas have been working diligently to offer support as they can.
I will let everyone know the next steps when they are ready. I appreciate everyone’s patience at this time.
Even MORE meanwhile, other platforms have been pitching themselves as potential homes, including GlobalComix:
To every creator who built something on Tapas: we’re so sorry. First, back up your files, episode order, and stats. When you’re ready, GlobalComix is open: no contract, you keep your rights, no exclusivity, multiple monetization options. We’re rooting for you.
And Bookwalker:
We are deeply saddened by the news of Tapas closing its doors, and our thoughts are with the thousands of readers and talented creators impacted by this loss. We sincerely hope for positive outcomes for the authors and artists who built their livelihoods on the platform.
As a dedicated digital manga and light novel storefront, BookWalker has historically operated through direct publisher partnerships. However, we have been exploring ways to open our platform to professional indie creators. In light of recent events, we are officially accelerating those plans.
If you are an impacted Premium or Early Access creator seeking a stable, dedicated storefront to publish and monetize your series, we want to help. Reach out to us directly anytime – our team is ready to support your next steps.
For creators looking for a new home, KComicsBeat’s Justin Guerrero has written a VERY detailed look at other potential platforms, so I urge creators to check it out.
In the meantime, the entire situation can only be described as a disaster. Kakao’s lack of messaging and clarity to the creators it said it was nurturing is troubling – and a sign that they were never going to be successful at expanding into North America. In a comment on his own statement, Tapas founder Kim wrote:
After the acquisition, we were asked to hit an unrealistically high number, so we had to speed up – meaning hiring more people, spending more on marketing, etc. – without the support or investment commensurate with the level of growth expected of us
It’s a sad story…and one that is still developing.
