![Sim Wong Hoo](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/NP0AQKitsEQjO7_CnKO03FBDlFc=/0x0:828x552/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71835878/MicrosoftTeams_image_2.0.jpg)
Creative Technologies founder, CEO and chairman Sim Wong Hoo has died, his company has confirmed. He “passed away peacefully on 4 January 2023,” according to a press release. He was 67 years old.
It might seem hard for younger readers to believe, but there was a time that computer sound wasn’t guaranteed. If you wanted to plug in headphones or speakers that could do more than bloops or bleeps, you probably needed a sound card — and none were as successful as Creative Labs’ Sound Blaster. It sold over 400 million units as of its 30th anniversary in 2019.
In the pre-Windows 95 / DirectX era, few words in PC gaming were as important as the phrase “Sound Blaster compatible,” allowing players to hear the dogs bark in Wolfenstein 3D, or mess…