After low sales with InColor, Hercules stopped making its own graphics core and bought graphics chipsets from other manufacturers. The company name gradually declined through the 1990s while graphics chipsets firms such as Tseng Labs, S3 Graphics, 3Dfx, nVidia and ATI Technologies became popular, but Hercules sales of graphic cards were still at US$20 million in 1998. An acquisition of Hercules by German graphics card maker ELSA fell through in 1998 after the companies could not agree on terms.
Brand acquisition by Guillemot
The Hercules brand was acquired by the French-Canadian based Guillemot Corporation for $1.8 million.[16] In 2000 Hercules became the brand name for Guillemot 3D Prophet graphic cards, based on nVIDIA chipsets, switching to ATI Technologies chipsets in 2002.
Also in 2000, Guillemot introduced a new sound card, Game Theater XP, with the Hercules brand name, and Hercules gradually became the computer peripherals brand in Guillemot Corporation.
In 2004, Guillemot announced it would cease to produce graphics cards. Within the Guillemot group, computer peripherals (audio interfaces, speakers, webcams, networking) are designed by the Hercules division and given the Hercules brand, while game peripherals are designed by the Thrustmaster division and receive the Thrustmaster brand.
In 2010, the Hercules brand was used on computer speakers, computer DJ controllers, webcams and wireless networking peripherals.
Hercules turnover was €40.9 million (US$56.5 million) in 2010.
Organization
Headquarters: in France (President: Claude Guillemot),
Research and development: offices in Canada, France, Hong-Kong and Romania,
Sales: via Guillemot sales branches in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, UK, USA,
Distribution to retailers: through distributors,
Technical support: customer phone and email support by Guillemot technical support team.
Products
Hercules DJ mixer
Computer DJing: DJ Console – controllers with audio interface (DJ Console Mk2, Mk4, Rmx, 4-Mx) / DJ Control = DJ controllers without audio (DJ Control MP3, MP3 e2, Steel)
^Elliott, John C. (2012-08-05). "Hercules InColor Card: Notes". Archived from the original on 2016-11-23. Retrieved 2016-11-23. (Pictures and programming information)
^Wilton, Richard (1987). Programmer's guide to the PC & PS/2 video systems (1st ed.). Microsoft Press. ISBN1-55615-103-9. (NB. The second edition does no longer discuss the InColor and MCGA cards at detail level.)
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