The trial between Epic Games and Apple will begin on May 3, 2021, according to a court filing on October 6. However, there has been (relatively) much activity prior to the start of the trial, including a "trial management conference" (essentially a pre-trial hearing aimed at "streamlining the trial issues") on October 19.

Interestingly, it has not yet been decided whether the trial will be held in person, virtually, or "some combination thereof" as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. That will be determined closer to the actual trial date. The pretrial conference will be held on April 21, 2021.

It will be very interesting to see how this trial ultimately turns out. The Washington Post recently reported that Congress investigated Apple, along with Amazon, Google, and Facebook, for "anti-competitive and monopolistic tactics" in the process of becoming a giant corporate behemoth, and in September, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who presides over the battle between Epic and Apple criticized the tactics that led to the lawsuit, saying that Epic's release of an update to Fortnite that would allow it to circumvent Apple's payment system was "not in good faith." Whatever the outcome, it is likely to have a major impact on the future of digital stores.

Thanks, GamesIndustry.