Axie allowed Filipinas ppl to have an income because it was a ponzi. The game sucks, the team was driven only for short time gains and the ponzinomics were awful.
Splinterlands is not even comparable, it plays in another league of incentives, game theory and tokens flywheel. It is the finest I have seen, and I've seen something on my life.

Good point on the Hive onboarding from Binance, if the newcomer experience is good enough a new player should not need Binance in first instance, only when looking to compose his assets he would need to go outside Splinterlands, tipically to Hive-Engine and eventually reaching Binance. By that time I think we will have more DeFi and other products around. Im pro-proposal but if it doesn't pass the world is not ending.