I think Kotaku is one of the worst gaming websites on the Internet, but they still have value and I wouldn't expect them to disappear. The worst case scenario is that Gawker manages to hold onto them. The other scenario that they would be sold to another media company. If this happens, there would likely be significant changes made to how the company is run. Personally, I'd like to see them stick around. I'd liken them to FOX News in that it's really easy for me to ignore them.
Gawker needs better lawyers. Gawker lost this case on account of being unethical and sleazy. They had no way of winning, but their lawyers couldn't have fucked up harder if they tried.
It boggles my mind that they didn't have the comment about child sex tapes removed following the deposition. There is a mechanism to remove the comments, and they chose not to. It was obviously a joke made in bad taste, but the notion that they were just pretending to be child pornographers was obviously not going to go over well with any jury. They had the opportunity to remove that comment, but they signed off on it. It's one thing for a smug "journalist" to make a horrible joke under oath, but I can't believe that the lawyers would be so smug as to sign off on such an inappropriate comment.
On a related note, I am blown away by how vocal some Gawker's employees are being right now. In any job I've ever held, employees are clearly instructed not to comment about any ongoing legal proceedings. It boggles my mind that Gawker's lawyers haven't told everyone to keep their mouths shut. Given the propensity for Gawker employees to make inappropriate comments, their lawyers should have gagged them months ago.