Sim Wong Hoo, who founded Sound Blaster producer Creative Technology in 1981 and has been its head since then, has passed away.a statement (opens in new tab) A company release said Sim “passed away peacefully” on January 4.
Creative Technology (known as Creative Labs in North America) was a groundbreaking player in the early days of PC gaming, thanks to its long-running line of audio cards. First launched in 1987 as the Creative Music System, the famous Sound Blaster line debuted in his 1989 and quickly took the market by storm. Before the Sound Blaster card, Ad Lib, the working standard for PC game audio, was gone. Many foundations built up so quickly that they were forced to file for bankruptcy in 1992.
The Sound Blaster series has evolved through multiple generations since the release of the first card. My second sound card (which ironically replaced Ad Lib) was a Sound Blaster Pro. This came his way in 1991 and helped boost the company’s global revenues to well over his $1 billion by the mid-1990s.
The advent of on-board audio later hit consumer-level sound card sales hard, and attempts to migrate to other technologies such as Creative’s CD-ROM drives and video accelerators failed. But the company hopes to continue by refocusing its efforts on high-end sound hardware (the Sound Blaster AE-9 really impressed me when it launched in 2019) and specialist audio, including speakers. has been a resounding success.
audio legacy
Creative has been synonymous with computer audio for many years. point. When I went to college, I had my go-to set of Inspire T10 speakers, and they still sell that exact model, and my PC still has a Sound Blaster I have a sound card. I also had a Creative Zen MP3 player when I was a teenager. I think we can thank Mr. Shim for that long-lasting audio legacy.
– Jacob Ridley, Senior Hardware Editor
Creative is also known for winning a patent dispute with Apple in 2006 over Apple’s hot new invention, the iPod. At the time, Creative had its own line of Zen audio players, which had an interface for scrolling through Apple’s music library, which Apple loved so much.Ultimately, both companies settled for a payment of $100 million Out of pocket, Mr. Sim’s company has become that wealthy. Sure, Apple would have the last laugh given his success with his iPod after that, but Creative has made sure that even though the Zen music player had a limited lifespan, many of the things we use to this day continued to make PC products.
“I have known and worked with Mr. Shim for over 30 years. This is a sad and sudden event and we feel a great loss.”
a message (opens in new tab) Posted on Creative’s website, Sim said, “He was a visionary, an inventor, and an entrepreneur who gave the PC a voice. He will be greatly missed.”
The cause of death has not been announced by the company. Sim was 67 years old.
