Last year, Epic Games kicked off a feud with both Apple and Google when it introduced new in-game payments to Fortnite that would bypass the systems on Apple and Google's respective storefronts. Basically, it meant Apple and Google wouldn't receive the usual 30% commission from those purchases. This resulted in Fortnite being delisted from the Apple and Google Play stores and Epic filing lawsuits against both companies. However, it's the one with Apple that has dominated the conversation and, after nearly a year and a countersuit from Apple, the whole thing will be going to trial next month.

According to Law360 (as reported on by VGC), the in-person bench trial will begin on May 3 and run for roughly three weeks. Both Epic and Apple have submitted tentative witness lists and their respective CEOs, Tim Sweeney and Tim Cook, are expected to take the stand and testify before the court. It's believed that Sweeney will be examined for nearly eight hours, while Cook will only stand for just over two hours.

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Rather than make their cases against each other, the two CEOs will talk about their own companies. Sweeney will speak on Epic's history, business model, relationship with Samsung, and the discussions it's held with Apple and Google. Cook, meanwhile, is said to focus more on Apple's app store, its values, and its competitors.

Other expected witnesses include executives from other companies like Microsoft, Facebook, and Nvidia, but since the list is tentative, there's no guarantee for who exactly will show up. Recently, Apple attempted to block the testimony of three witnesses, claiming Epic had deliberately withheld critical information, but the motion was struck down.

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It's difficult to predict how exactly the trial will turn out, but both companies have made their positions quite clear over the last several months. The relationship between Apple and Epic has only grown increasingly more antagonistic, as demonstrated when Epic started the #FreeFortnite movement, even making a Fortnite trailer that parodied Apple's own 1984 advertisement, which depicted Apple as the villain of the narrative.

Despite how messy the whole thing has been, with Fortnite players on mobile being forced to move to a different platform to continue playing the game, Fortnite itself appears to have barely been affected. The subsequent seasons following its ban have remained incredibly popular, with one being entirely dedicated to Marvel and another featuring even more crossover cameos. Between appearances from Iron Man, Predator, the Terminator, and, most recently, Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn, it doesn't appear to have suffered many setbacks if companies are still lining up to put their characters in the game.

MORE: Fortnite's Epic Games-Apple Legal Battle Will Have Big Ramifications

Source: Law360, VGC