[Pannoniae]

I don't follow, sorry.

1. In order to publish a game to a console, you do need an agreement with the console manufacturer. (Unless you're doing homebrew but then the point is moot.)

2. In that case, you do get access to the official documentation, everything is solid.

3. The word "legally" has a lot of bearing there. Sure, they have to. And if they don't, what? Will the other contributors sue them? If they aren't willing to do that, then they can get away with it.

4. The context is about someone trying to hack the devices. ("Who knows what some enterprising hacker might be able to glean about the workings of the console by looking at the APIs.") They certainly won't be bothered by NDAs.