Code, art, website design is all IP.

Not exactly a spend if it's being returned, more of a loan or investment on the DAO's behalf, all of which have been favorable to us in the past (we've done some smaller version of this 4 times now). There is of course always the risk of default and it's up to the DAO if it wants to assume that risk. If I didn't think there was a very good reason for us to consider taking that risk I wouldn't be doing so.

Which brings me to a question to address your last statement:

I suppose the real question may be, "If Steem Monsters Corp dies right now what do we have?"

Which is not so easy to answer. There's too much unknown. It would depend on how the company died and how benevolent the owners wanted to be I suppose. It would also depend on how prepared they were for that ending and how much the DAO's future was considered. If there was a forced liquidation and the IP was taken by some new controlling entity and we had no rights to it, what is our course of action?

To me, getting the DAO rights to the IP should provide some level of security for all of us that if there was ever a worst case scenario, the company is gone and the DAO has only what's left in its coffers and what it can sell to maintain operations, I would think we'd at least want to have the ability and capability to keep the game online even if we had to do it ourselves. That is of course just my opinion on the matter, the DAO may not think it's a relevant concern. I try to look forward, hope for the best and prepare for the worst to the best of my ability.