That's probably true. But I'm sure they also realize that to grow revenue they need to add new coins & tokens and recognize that there is a significant 'first to have' advantage.
While I think bribes could help (and why not kick some VERI to some of these exchanges if you're the dev?), at some point you lose more than the amount of the bribe by not being the first major exchange to handle a coin. For the devs, getting VERI on a major exchange is or should be a major milestone that will help bolster the token/technology and make it easier to sell to institutional buyers.