Microsoft introducing a number of features that are good for its customers doesn't mean it's sworn off anti-consumer decisions forever, the past is no indicator of the business decisions Microsoft makes now and in the future.
Microsoft implementing decisions like cross play and backwards compatibility weren't done out of compassion. Microsoft was behind Sony in the exclusives department, writes a relatively simple first party emulator for its Powerpc console architecture, software that probably has far lower investment cost than a full first party game, and implements it. Microsoft has an install base significantly behind Sony's, suddenly starts supporting cross-play.
Those decisions aren't true sacrifices, they're trade offs that make sense for the business in the context of this console generation.
There's no indication that for example, next console generation, they won't drop backward compatibility and not have it as any kind of day 1 feature if, for example, Microsoft wins the install base war. There's no wider philosophy of promising to deliver a higher level of customer service to consumers strategically, full backward compatibility forever by promising to straight port their x86 emulator to all future x86 console platforms and maintain their current level of backward compatibility so you don't need to buy a new boxed copy of a previous generation's game.
They are just a number of tactical decisions Microsoft made for this console cycle.
Not to mention, they're still charging gamers an incredible amount for online play via Xbox Live, far in excess of the underlying cost to operate the Xbox Live platform. Never forget that business model, it's both delivered rivers of gold to Microsoft and raised the total cost of ownership of a console over the maybe 8 years consumers wait between console purchases dramatically above what it used to be. And when the cost of maintaining and running gaming servers is a fraction of what it was 20 years ago, Xbox Live is still sold at the same price and gating multiplayer.
