US video game industry revenue

As the video game industry has earned more money, more cyclists have been killed, a correlation that suggests either that gamers are running over cyclists in real life or that the same growing economy funding both industries has not figured out how to keep either one safe. The coefficient is 0.812 across eighteen years, during which pixels got more profitable and pedaling got more perilous. The gamer levels up, the cyclist does not, and the chart treats both with equal mathematical indifference.

Video game revenue grew from about 17 billion to over 57 billion dollars between 2005 and 2022, driven by mobile gaming and live service models. Cycling fatalities grew from about 780 to over 1,000 during the same period. Both track consumer spending in a growing economy: video games are discretionary entertainment, and cycling infrastructure (or lack thereof) reflects municipal spending priorities. The smartphone connects both—it runs mobile games and distracts drivers who share the road with cyclists. The shared variable is economic growth and the screen-based culture it has produced.

Eighteen years of video games and cycling deaths is a story about an economy that invests in entertainment and underinvests in infrastructure. The games earn billions, the bike lanes cost millions, and the budget goes to the former while the latter waits. The screen captures the attention. The road captures the cyclist.