Yes, it should be difficult to list on the big exchange. Imagine if anyone could list their coin on top exchanges easily, spam coins and tokens would be listed on there, ruining the top exchanges. Listing on top exchanges requiring some high standards or requirements. I believe when the project has successfully developed, they will be able to fulfill the high standard and listed on top exchanges.
I kinda like the idea of having a high standards before getting listed but not so sure if investors or token holders of a particular project will be happy about this changes because most of the time these are the people who are eager to get their tokens listed as soon as possible but what if the project they invested in didn't pass the standards? It doesn't mean that the project is bad or poor but this changes will give them a bad image once they got rejected for listing.