Nintendo Sought Cyanogen OS Android Fork For Switch Console, But Was Rudely Rebuked
"In the early days of Cyanogen Nintendo wants us to create an OS for a certain portable. I told them to stick it." McMaster wrote in a now-deleted Twitter post.
McMaster does not specifically mention the Switch (or NX, as it was known before Nintendo named the device), but the timing of the Twitter post strongly suggests that is what it was in reference to. He also did not go into detail about why he was so adamant against working with Nintendo, to the point where he would offer up such a rude response, or at least portray it as such on social media. One reason might be his frustration with Nintendo for refusing to build a device that could double as a phone. He hints at this in a recent tweet. Have a look:
@dnaltews @romainguy @rebelleader I wish Nintendo would open this love to build a v2 with telephony. Love it. GF started playing Zelda... 5 days later not left her side.
— Kirt McMaster (@kynprime) March 21, 2017
Incidentally, he claims in yet another Twitter post that Nintendo considered going full-blown Android on the Switch, but settled on using bits of it instead.
@romainguy @dnaltews @rebelleader Was under consideration. Switch is mostly custom kernel. They used bits of android.
— Kirt McMaster (@kynprime) March 21, 2017