Arizona is working on legislation that, if fully passed, would prevent app store owners from mandating certain payment systems from Arizona-based developers.
According to an indepth writeup from The Verge, the Arizona House of Representitives passed the amendment this week, meaning the bill must now survive the state senate before arriving on the govenor’s desk.
If passed, this would essentially allow exaclty what Epic Games wants to see on iOS where Apple would be unable to force developers to only use Apple’s payment processing system on the platform, albiet on a smaller scale.
Specifically, the bill propose that digital stores that see over 1 million downloads should not be able to force Arizona-based developers “to use a particular in-application payments system as the exclusive mode of accretive payments from a user.” As called out in The Verge, lanuage in the bill specifically notes that this would not apply to game consoles.
All in all, it’s a similar bill to the one that only just recently died in North Dakota’s state senate. Though both Arizona and North Dakota’s proposals would only apply to developers operating out of each respective state, the idea here is that starting on the smaller scale could lead to future legislation that accomplishes the same feat on a wider basis.
Meanwhile, the big Epic Games and Apple dispute over third-party payment processing systems and app stores on iOS is set to head to trial on May 3.