Did anyone notice what happened with Kakao Webtoon?

akitsukino 2021-08-02 05:51:20 UTC #1

There were a few topics about Tapas being acquired and the REALLY big expansion Kakao Entertainment was going through and it looks like they’re going forward with some stuff now. I went to what used to be DAUM to look at the official raws for a Korean Webtoon I really like and was greeted to this!

The gifs were a surprise enough but it looks like this whole thing is also using a crazy popular pop idol ( IU ) to promote it and it’s set to expand soon. I read the news articles but I can’t tell if there’s supposed to be an English version of this exact version of the website coming soon or if that’s what Tapas will continue to be. It’s supposedly already in Taiwan.

And there’s already a crazy high production value commercial.

I keep hearing how intense webtoons are as a brand in Korea and I’m definitely starting to believe the hype. It feels like every time I blink see a new Webtoon site: Manta, Copin, Comikey, WebComics, WeComics, PocketComics, Lezhin, Toomics, Toptoon, Tappytoon, etc. It’s overwhelming! I never thought I’d see the day webcomics in general would get so popular let alone like this. I’m interested in seeing what happens next

sorible 2021-08-02 06:35:33 UTC #2

honestly, I don't like it. back in 2015 when webtoons weren't as popular, it was like a nice small family. I would read webtoons and my friends got interested so I would translate episodes for them.

But now everything's about money, and always expanding overseas. I guess it was inevitable but I kind of miss that time.

Oto_Kouda 2021-08-02 11:47:58 UTC #3

I'm 50/50 on this.

I play a game being published by Kakao (that they just hijacked from their NA/EU developers), and so far it's been a nice reign under our new overlords.

But, not gonna lie, it's kinda scary too.

akitsukino 2021-08-03 02:36:52 UTC #4

I also feel a little torn in it. Everything getting bigger like this could offer more opportunities to artists in regards to pay and forming audiences, but there are also cases of bug companies like this phasing smaller artists out. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out.

Kaydreamer 2021-08-03 03:50:53 UTC #5

I'm excited that the webtoon scene is expanding so much, and growing into new markets, but I'm not without trepidation as well.

We're quite lucky that the biggest webtoon site to date has set a pretty creator-friendly standard, and they're currently giving a huge amount of love to their indie creator section. (The amount of focus on it this year has been truly amazing to see.) That's good - assuming they remain the biggest, and assuming the competition remains healthy as well. If a giant monopoly like Amazon came in and ripped the rug out from under us, we could see a massive backward slide in standards of pay, and in the promotion and opportunities given to newer and less profitable series.

I think vertical scrolling comics will become a massive part of the future of our medium. (It's already well on its way!) Which I'm excited for, because I adore the format... but standards of work and pay are slip-sliding catastrophically across so many industries, and it'd be so easy for it to happen here. It's always easy in the creative industries, because we're so passionate... we're falling over each other to exploit ourselves for pennies, and it's a dangerous race to the bottom.