“Uh, sorry we totally always planned to have self publishing, but we just didn’t tell you two months ago.”
Look, I applaud Microsoft for getting around to addressing the growing discord they were having with smaller developers but I don't think anyone really believes this was something they were planning "all along". You don't tell developers "no" in that situation, you say something like "check back with us soon."
The Microsoft change in policy was so late that it's pretty clearly a response to what Sony and Nintendo are doing, the responses from the public and the media over the growing divide and, most importantly, the fact that small developers were skipping the Xbox One in significant numbers.
I'm not surprised that more than a few developers have expressed frustration with the sudden 180. However, on the positive side, anything can be fixed. The people at Microsoft are too smart not to make the necessary changes. I think we'll see them repair many of these frayed relationships in the future. Also, as always, money can go a long way toward making people forget past mistakes.
