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The Epic Games v. Apple trial kicks off with kids screaming ‘free Fortnite’

The Epic Games v. Apple trial kicks off with kids screaming ‘free Fortnite’

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A chaotic start to the proceedings

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Photo by Vjeran Pavic / The Verge

The Epic Games v. Apple trial is starting today, and it has begun with a court conference call full of kids screaming for Fortnite to return to mobile. The public call line allows anyone to dial in and listen to today’s proceedings, but the court didn’t manage to properly mute all participants for more than 20 minutes. The result was what sounded like a chaotic Discord call.

More than 200 participants were dialed into the public line, with many screaming “free Fortnite” or “bring back Fortnite on mobile please judge.” Others played Travis Scott tunes, chatted away, or advertised their YouTube channels.

The trial was supposed to begin at 11:15AM ET, and court clerks could be heard attempting to mute participants multiple times unsuccessfully. At 11:30AM ET, silence finally fell on the line in preparation for the court to hear Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney today.

For a brief period, though, Fortnite fans were pleading for the return of the game on the iPhone and iPad. Over the next few weeks, we’ll find out whether that’s likely to happen.