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Nintendo may have almost partnered with Cyanogen on the Nintendo Switch
Nintendo has successfully launched three software titles now, two of which have come to Android, with one more on the way in the next few days. All three of these proved to be pretty darn successful across both Android and iOS, and showed the public that the company can indeed make quality software titles on other people’s hardware.
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According to a recent set of tweets by Kirt McMaster, CEO of Cyanogen, Nintendo was apparently looking beyond using Android phones as a platform for games, and may have even been flirting with the idea of using a custom Android OS created by Cyanogen for the Nintendo Switch console.
In the twitter thread, McMaster claims he told Nintendo to “stick it” when approached about the project, but that he wishes they would build a 2nd version with Telephoney capabilities. This news came to us from McMaster’s Twitter account, though the tweet has since been deleted.
By this we’re assuming he means LTE, as Telephoney is an Android API library which allows for just things like phone, SMS, and data.
@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
While the company obviously didn’t go with an Android fork, it would have been interesting to see what the Switch could have become as an Android-based tablet. It likely could have run its three available Android titles natively, and it would be nice to see LTE capabilities in the device, especially with the sub-par Wi-Fi connectivity that many users are reporting.
Would you have been interested in a Switch if it were based on Android? Do you think there is any validity to McMaster’s claims? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.