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@feld @phnt >One thing people don't realize is that videogame consoles don't behave like a PC -- they don't have graphics drivers. That architecture actually makes the GPU usage slower / less efficient. Although my knowledge about this is aging and it's possible modern PCs have done things to close this gap...

It hasn't been that way for a while, especially not after the whole "SDK on the console" approach that Sega and Microsoft used with the DC and Xbox. You just never have to ever touch the GPU driver part unless you're writing an SDK for it. That's why the DC has it's own open SDK for it.
https://github.com/KallistiOS/KallistiOS

The PS4/Xbox One definitely run OSes. The Xbox runs a NT kernel, the PS4 runs BSD.

As for license dodging, it's so they never have to release a single line of code back.