You can use normal APIs on consoles through translation layers (it works the same on the switch). The translation layers aren't the best so everyone just ends u

You can use normal APIs on consoles through translation layers (it works the same on the switch). The translation layers aren't the best so everyone just ends up using the proprietary 'API' in the end, which translates/gets inlined down to raw commands written to the GPU's command buffer at compile time.