In a shocking announcement, Peanutoon, a platform hosting webcomics including I Love Amy, Sketch, One Room TA, and many more has announced its closure on February 28.
The official site notice does not explain the reason but provides details about the transition leading to its service termination. Users will be able to use and recharge their “Peanuts” (which was the currency used on the platform) up until February 28 with the automatic recharge ending on January 15 at 11:59 PM KST. The platform will cancel automatic payments on January 16. Users can request refunds for Peanuts between February 1 at 10 AM KST and March 15 at 11:59 PM KST, but the platform will not process refund requests after March 15. Unfortunately, artworks in the subscribers’ collection is non-refundable. Peanutoon warns overseas subscribers that securing refunds may be extremely challenging and suggests they apply for refunds to a Korean account or use their Peanuts before February 28.
Readers can view works until February 28, 2025, at 11:59 PM KST, but they cannot download the series despite paying for them. Once Peanutoon shuts down, subscribers will lose access to their library entirely. Authors will continue receiving Peanuts until the end of the service, but the future of their works remains uncertain.
Users and creators are understandably upset. The site crashed shortly after as many people tried accessing it.
Dosak, the creator behind the BL Sketch, wrote a social media post revealing they learned about the termination only slightly earlier (creators received an email at 10 AM KST, while Peanutoon’s official announcement came at 1:05 PM KST), and it caught them completely off guard. It came as a surprise as the series only recently went into hiatus a few weeks ago and was planning on resuming serialization. They revealed plans to speak with the Peanutoon PD to find a way to continue serializing Sketch. Numerous other creators echoed this sentiment, as their works are now platform-less, and they must find new ways to earn income. Some creators who recently started serializing their works on Peanutoon decided to terminate serialization immediately, as continuing makes little sense with the countdown already underway.
The artist behind Dreaming of the Dokkaebi jokingly said that they had planned on taking a break and stretching their legs after President Yoon Suk Yeol was arrested on January 15 for his declaration of martial law, but then “the platform [my work] was serializing on went down” and added a shrugging emoji.
Some netizens speculate that Blackstone’s recent acquisition of Infocom in May 2024 may have triggered Peanutoon’s shutdown. In May 2019, Amutus, a network business operations unit based in Japan, made Peanutoon a consolidated subsidiary. Amutus’s parent company, Infocom Corp which is responsible for digital manga distribution channels of Mecha Comic, Mecha Comic Creators, and Mecha Comic Originals, was purchased by Blackstone for about 260 billion yen. Peanutoon may have been caught in the crossfire of Blackstone’s reorganization process to assess profitability.
Aside from Korean works, Peanutoon has also hosted Korean translations of Japanese and Chinese webcomics.
Peanutoon’s notice states that the platform is exploring ways for fans to continue reading these webcomics.
Source: X, formerly known as Twitter
