15-day suspensions handed out to users of retail emulators as a warning shot from Microsoft

That's a recurring theme in the gaming industry, I don't understand why buyers accept it (my guess : they don't know about it). If you read the End User Agreement of the games you buy, almost all of them (all of them?) tell you that you don't own your copy of the game, it's the property of the publisher, and they only sell to you the right to execute the software on your computer. As it's been successful at locking in users, hardware manufacturers try to do the same thing, usually by mixing in online software to make sure they can take your hardware down (and it's not just in gaming industry, see printers and tractors). The ultimate incarnation of this attack on property are the game streaming platforms. There, everything is a rental, now, good cash flow!

The usual answer about such abuses from software producers would be to go FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), but it doesn't really work with games : while there are some great FOSS games, the amount can't compete with the proprietary industry. My personal solution has been to replace consumerism with creativity. Every night, instead of playing videogames, I write. I use tabletop RPG rulesets to spice up my writing, so that I don't know what happens next and I'm surprised myself by where the dice rolls make the story go (instead of deciding of everything). I also don't write to be read, nobody will ever read what I write, so I feel no pressure. It was hard at first (I guess my imagination was atrophied by too much consumption), but after a few years going on, it's insane everything that happens in my games, videogames feel lame, comparatively. I call that "exploring my imagination". I can do anything, and this time it's not an hyperbole, like it's the case in those videogames where they tell you "you can be anything" (no you can't). And it's free, and nobody can take it from me. I highly recommend.

Sadly, with these locked down hardware platforms like Xbox, PS, Switch, or even something like an iPhone, the buyer doesn't own the hardware. You're at the whims of the platform holder and what they decide: case in point this story. These platforms, which have grown evermore popular because of their ease of use, are gilded cages. You just noticed the bars.

If they don't give you access to the bootloader and an option to install whatever OS you like, you're beholden to the company.