Sim Wong Hoo, founder of Sound Blaster maker Creative Labs, has died

6 January, 2023

Sim Wong Hoo, founder of Sound Blaster maker Creative Labs, has died.

Sim, who was a leader in the PC gaming industry in the ’90s, was 67 years old. He “passed away peacefully” on Wednesday (January 4), according to a statement released by Creative Technologies LTD. A cause of death has not been released as of yet.

Sim was the man behind Creative Technology – known as Creative Labs in North America. The company was a groundbreaking player in the early boom days of PC gaming thanks to its long-running series of audio cards. After initially launching as the Creative Music System in 1987, the company’s now famous Sound Blaster line debuted in 1989, and quickly became a market leader.

The Sound Blaster audio card series soon helped push the company’s global revenues to well over $1 billion by the mid-1990s. However, the advent of onboard audio in PC units later took a big bite out of the consumer sound card market. The company later found success by refocusing its efforts on specialty audio, including high-end sound hardware and speakers.

The statement from Creative begins: “The board of directors of Creative Technology Ltd.  announces with great sadness that Mr. Sim Wong Hoo, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, passed away peacefully on 4 January 2023.

“On behalf of all staff of the Company, the Board expresses its deepest sorrow over the death of Mr. Sim and conveys its condolences to his family. The Board also expresses its heartfelt gratitude for the immense contributions to the Company by Mr. Sim during his tenure as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company [sic].”

Interim CEO Song Siow Hui stated his own condolences later on in the company’s official statement, writing: “I have known and worked with Mr. Sim for over 30 years. This is a sad and sudden development and we feel a great loss especially since Mr. Sim and I recently had extensive discussions on the future direction of the Company.

“During those discussions, Mr. Sim was full of fresh vision. Even on the night before, he had a long discussion with the Engineering team and was scheduled to meet with the Online Sales team the next day. The best thing to do now is to ensure the continued smooth running of the Company, and also to execute and realise the vision and strategy that Mr. Sim had for the Company.”

A spokesperson for the company wrote on the website: “If you wish to share your condolences, please email to rememberingsim@ctl.creative.com.”

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