Technology 3 min read By Lauren Baxter
Report Predicts 1.5 Million Americans Will Call In Sick for GTA 6 Launch
A new report estimates that 1.5 million US workers will skip work on November 19 to play Grand Theft Auto 6, costing companies $1 billion and cutting national output by 2 percent.
A new report estimates that 1.5 million American workers will call in sick on November 19 to play Grand Theft Auto 6 on its launch day, a mass absence projected to cost companies $1 billion and reduce national output by 2 percent. The analysis, reported by the International Business Times, underscores the unusual scale of anticipation surrounding Rockstar Games' open-world title, which arrives thirteen years after Grand Theft Auto 5.
Technology firms are expected to absorb the sharpest impact, given their typically younger workforces. Market research firm Newzoo projects that GTA 6 could sell at least 37 million copies in its opening week, with gamers spending as much as $4.5 billion. The Wall Street Journal has reported that some employees have already set aside vacation days for the release, while certain companies deliberately steered their annual schedules away from the launch date to avoid staffing gaps.
The predictions have come from unlikely corners. Strauss Zelnick, chief executive of GTA 6 publisher Take-Two Interactive, said earlier this year that he expected a wave of absences. «I think a lot of people will be calling in sick on November 19,» he said. Houston Rockets center Steven Adams, an NBA player, has claimed that performance «league-wide» will «plummet» in November because of the game's distraction, and the NFL has been predicted to see a similar dip.
The commercial signals behind those forecasts are already visible. Reports indicate the title has sold more than 4 million copies through pre-orders and is expected to become the most expensive video game ever made. Rockstar Games says the game runs «best» on PlayStation, and demand for the PlayStation 5 Pro has spiked accordingly, with consoles being bought up and resold on eBay, leaving many players unable to find one at standard retail.
For employers, the projected absences represent a scheduling and productivity challenge concentrated in a single day. For the entertainment industry, they are a measure of how thoroughly a video game release has become a cultural event, one capable of pulling millions of people out of the workforce, if only briefly. Whether the forecast holds will become clear when the game arrives on November 19.
3
