WEBTOON Entertainment has been on an ambitious expansion streak, and its latest announcement is that starting this summer it’s teaming up with Genies, described as an “AI avatar technology company,” allowing creators to create AI-powered, interactive character avatars that let fans chat with, collect, and interact with characters from their favorite series — a new feature that the company describes as “fandom technology.”
The WEBTOON x Genies collab will allow creators to reimagine their characters as “customizable 3D avatars that reflect their distinct artistic style and each character’s unique personality.” Each avatar is built to reflect the artistic style and personality of the original work, whether a title skews dark and gritty or bright and stylized. In addition, the experience is designed to be progressive, meaning no spoilers — the deeper a fan reads into a series, the more they unlock, including exclusive collectible items, expanded backstories, and hidden lore developed directly by creators. A WEBTOON representative told Comics Beat that the digital avatars on WEBTOON will know the series’s story and be able to reveal new sides of the characters, such as backstories and new lore, all developed by the creator and delivered by these avatars.
As with the company’s previous AI-related announcement, WEBTOON emphasizes that the feature is fully opt-in and won’t train on creator art or their stories. Instead, to develop the avatars, creators work directly with WEBTOON x Genies, providing concept art that shows the character from different angles, as well as background materials about their personality, backstory and whatever else is needed to help the technology understand how this character expresses themselves. It’s described as a very living embodiment of that character, which is why AI technology is used to bring the story to life.
The next part of the WEBTOON x Genies collab will be the launch of digital collectibles, which will be arriving on the platform at a later date. These are things folks can earn by reading. For example, when the reader reaches a certain point in a story, they may earn a digital collectible, such as an additional story or a back scene. With collectibles, it will eventually be a monetization feature, allowing creators to work with WEBTOON to add new monetization and revenue-sharing options based on these collectibles.
WEBTOON is launching the Genies collab with just six titles, although, as of today only three of the titles are being announced. The popular YA series about an engineering student, The Greatest Estate Developer, written by BK_Moon and adapted by Lee Hyun-min, with art by Kim Hyun-soo, The Knight Only Lives Today, a YA fantasy series about reincarnation that’s adapted by Lee Hyun Min and Kanara, with art by IAN and original work by SOULPUNG, and My In-Laws Are Obsessed with Me, which is based on an original work by Han Yoo seoul and adapted by Seungu, who is currently on hiatus due to health concerns. The feature will eventually scale to creators across WEBTOON’s English platform, but as of this article’s writing, WEBTOON has not shared any information about what the full-scale rollout will look like. But we do know there won’t be any changes to IP ownership, and creators will maintain full ownership of their stories.
Below, you can check out a gallery of what the interactive fan elements will look like:
“Creators are the foundation of everything we do at WEBTOON,” Yongsoo Kim, President at WEBTOON Entertainment, is quoted as saying in the press release. “This partnership introduces new ways to extend their worlds beyond the page. For fans, it transforms how they experience the stories they love, with immersive new digital experiences that offer more of their favorite worlds and characters. Our approach is deliberately creator-first: participation is opt-in, and every character experience is built to reflect the integrity of the original work.”
That opt-in philosophy also runs through WEBTOON’s other major pushes, such as a sweeping upgrade to its CANVAS platform for indie creators, which the company says aims to increase monetization opportunities for creators. The centerpiece of the new “Creator Dashboard” initiatives is an AI-powered translation program that’s rolling out in beta this spring to eligible English-language creators. According to WEBTOON, the AI-powered translation program, which company representatives said wouldn’t train on creator art and wouldn’t displace any of its in-house translators, will let creators choose where and how their work is localized and help them more easily reach international audiences while maintaining creative control. Alongside the translation tool, the new dashboard will centralize analytics, readership data, and engagement management, while ad revenue sharing is being expanded across all supported CANVAS languages.
Some of these AI-powered features, specifically WEBTOON’s anti-piracy software, have already been shown to have a tangible impact on creator earnings. In news out of Korea, it was reported that the company’s “Toon Radar” has increased profits 23% percent. Overall, according to WEBTOON, creators have seen more paid content purchases in stories that have successfully taken away from the piracy world. So that’s leading to a direct increase on WEBTOON’s platform.
Genies, which has recently partnered with King Records, the National Basketball Players Association, MLB Players Inc., and Sanrio, brings avatar creation tools flexible enough to honor the distinct vision of each series.
“WEBTOON has built one of the most creator-driven communities in digital entertainment, where artists and storytellers shape worlds that fans deeply connect with,” said Akash Nigam, CEO and Founder of Genies, in the PR. “We’re excited to collaborate on tools that help WEBTOON creators expand how fans experience their stories, turning characters they love into interactive digital experiences while preserving creative authenticity.”
Full feature details and timing are still in development, with more information expected in the coming months.
Source: WEBTOON Entertainment
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