It's progress. I didn't expect the Xbox One to have backwards compatibility, especially OG Xbox BC when I bought it and I didn't expect my PS4 to be updated to support HDR.BC was on previous systems so there was some anger when XB1 was first announced without it but yeah.
I've never heard of this "first party is anti consumer" stuff. Where are you reading this? Or are you referring to stuff like paid exclusives?
The "first party is anti consumer" sentiment is pretty popular on reddit and I sometimes see it on resetera. It's specifically about games developed and published by the platform holder, not paid exclusives.