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February 24, 2023, was a monumental day for K-pop fans as SM Entertainment announced that they will close off NCT’s infinite expansion concept. The last subunit to debut under the group’s name will be the Tokyo subunit.
NCT, short for Neo Culture Technology, debuted with the concept of having unlimited members. Under the name, many groups with their own concept have already debuted - U, 127, DREAM, and WayV. There were also reports of two new subunits, Tokyo and Hollywood. While fans were ecstatic for the former, they were vehemently against the latter.
However, it seems that those prayers have been answered, since SM Entertainment recently released a 16-minute video showing the plans they have for SM 3.0. One of these includes abolishing the infinite expansion system of the Universe group.
The announcement comes after HYBE acquired the agency with a 14.8% stake, becoming the largest shareholder in SM.
NCT fans celebrate as agency announces plans to terminate the group’s unlimited members concept
SM Entertainment’s co-CEOs Chris Lee and Tak Young-jun addressed fans in a video titled The Era of SM 3.0, Fans Ask and SM Answers, which released on February 24, 2023. The co-CEOs announced many new changes as SM advances to its 3.0 era, with a major change concerning the Universe singers, NCT.
The group was introduced as a wholly new concept - a group with unlimited, aka infinite members. It currently has 23 members, two of whom will debut in the upcoming Tokyo subunit with more members.
The co-CEOs have now announced that NCT’s subunits will only expand till Tokyo and the group’s infinite expansion plan will be scrapped.
Fans breathed a sigh of relief as they celebrated the change on social media. While some were concerned over the management of existing groups, others were ecstatic to have the agency focus on the current groups rather than debuting new units.
Social media was flooded with reactions to the news:
NCT's current subunits
For now, there are four subunits - U, which includes all members, 127, which includes adult members living in Seoul, DREAM, which until recently, comprised of teenage members with a graduation concept (the graduation system refers to the process where a member has to leave the group after reaching 19 years of age internationally), and WayV, with only Chinese members.
SM Entertainment has continuously faced heavy backlash since May 2021, when it announced plans for a Hollywood subunit. Fans criticized the agency for not paying attention to the many other idol groups it had under them and expressed concerns for the already 23-member Universe group.
Meanwhile, in a previously released video titled SM 3.0: Producing Strategy - Multi 'Production Center/Label' System, the agency has announced plans to debut NCT Tokyo, a boy group, a girl group, and a virtual K-pop soloist in 2023 alone.
While the reactions to others were a bit lukewarm, the Tokyo subunit being the debut ground of Japanese rookies Shotaro and Sungchan has many fans glued to SM Entertainment’s latest news.
