While we are all obviously very happy about Splinterlands success and the wealth it has brought, it is important to not get carried away or think that the blogging aspect of Hive is not an important, core part of the ecosystem.
Hive is a suitable chain for Splinterlands, but so are other chains based on it.
Splinterlands could get so big it may need to run forks of Hive just to cope with the growth. The SPS token provides ways to create new decentralised chains with token ownership based on SPS holdings.
Hive needs to continue to attract new users to its core, blogging function and show growth in this area to survive long term. Otherwise it will become completely dependent on Splinterlands and thus vulnerable.
I see dangerous hubris in the comments about how well the Hive price is doing and why should we care about people leaving Hive because their posts have been downvoted to zero because a whale doesn't like them.
Hive needs to convert its new Splinterlands sourced users to regular bloggers, not scare people away.
This is what is in the long term interests of everyone with a significant Hive stake.