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Hiarcs 9: Black Strain, (MSRP)

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Hi-Rez, who was a small independent developer/publisher before Microsoft acquired Hi-Rez for $1.6 billion, launched Hi-Rez in 2006. The studio, which includes offices in Boston, Minneapolis, and the Bahamas, is known for its "sci-fi adventure," Thief, and Mythos: Prologue games. The company is known for its simple games, like Wings to the Air, and science fiction games. To this day, the studio remains the sole developer and publisher of PC games.

Hi-Rez is planning a "talent dedicated to games" program with a focus on subscription services, though that's not to say that this isn't something that the studio is planning to implement. With Hi-Rez, it's looking to become a true independent development studio.

"We're hoping that we'll get a really creative product that'll enhance people's games and give them an opportunity to create the very best games," Hi-Rez director of development Lawrence Ackler said in a statement. "As a company, we think it's important to find partners who will help us make our games. We're looking to grow our existing audience base to attract even more new players to our games. We're also looking to create new games and experiences to attract a larger audience. We'll use our experience in bringing games from LucasArts, Double Fine, and Shaba Games to the Steam platform as a foundation for this. I think there's a tremendous opportunity to reach a large audience, even in the indie game space, to see a variety of new games from us at a broad range. I don't think we have the same kind of corporate leadership that we do. We're looking to take some of the risks that are associated with making a good game and develop new IPs that will appeal to new gamers."

Hi-Rez has acquired more than 1,200 developers worldwide since acquiring them in June 2012. At the time, Hi-Rez CEO John Gibson was unclear whether or not the deal will be completed. However, the acquisition still leaves his stock with 1 percent of his remaining value and should close at the beginning of the year. Gibson also revealed that 20 percent of Hi-Rez's shares were used to buy Skate and Guitar Hero games. It's not clear how much of the deal's value has been invested in the studio, but given the long-term viability of Skate, it's likely it will remain a large part of that deal.

While the companies remain silent on the current reports of a merger, Microsoft's CEO has teased that things might change over the coming weeks. Specifically, he mentioned that Microsoft is looking to make even more Xbox exclusives. Spencer says the best way to get these exclusives right is to start from scratch, and he hopes that more games will be announced soon. "I know it's going to be some time before we know anything about our strategy," he said, "and you can be sure that there will be new stuff on the way.

There's still a lot to come from this acquisition. But it's the one thing I'm very happy about."

The $70 million deal will come to an end after the acquisition closes. The deal is expected to close sometime next week. Microsoft will keep the existing exclusivity deals with Activision Blizzard, but it won't be able to use them again until after the merger closes.

"For years we've been focused on Activision Blizzard and Activision Blizzard," Spencer said in the statement. "So we are happy to announce that we will be able to continue to offer exclusive Activision Publishing, Bungie, and Call of Duty games to our players."

It is unclear when the purchase will happen, but Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said earlier this year that he expected the deal to close by the end of the year.

Kotick said he was disappointed by the performance of Activision Blizzard and it will no longer be able to make enough money to continue to operate. But this is a huge move.

"While the Call of Duty and Blizzard teams have strong leadership and vision in their teams, we do not expect this to be the case in the short term," he said. "We will always continue to invest in Blizzard games and our players.

"It will be a significant step forward for the Call of Duty team. We believe in the shared commitment to quality and support for our players. It will be the strongest investment for the Call of Duty team in the long run.

"We do not expect this to be the case in the short term."

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick added that it will still pursue "investment" opportunities, however.