After waiting more than a decade for a new Grand Theft Auto, a lot of American workers have apparently made their launch-day plans: call in. New workplace data shows paid time-off requests for Nov. 19 – the day Grand Theft Auto VI launches – are running 13% above historical levels, according to HR platform BambooHR.
Grand Theft Auto VI (Credits: Rockstar Games)
The finding comes from BambooHR’s “Gamer’s Day Off” report, published Oct. 22, which analyzed anonymized scheduling records covering more than 3.4 million U.S. employees across some 32,000 companies. Requests for Nov. 19 are nearly 13% higher than comparable third Thursdays in 2024 and 2025, even after accounting for a general 2%-4% rise in vacation requests across 2026.
GTA 6 launch day time-off requests are 13% above normal
A separate BambooHR survey of 1,530 full-time U.S. workers, conducted Oct. 9-20, found that 18% plan to take Nov. 19 off specifically for GTA 6. The figure climbs to 32% among Gen Z workers and 27% among millennials – the generations that grew up on the franchise.
The survey also suggests not all of those absences will show up as vacation days: among respondents planning leave for an upcoming video game launch, 50% said they expected to call in sick rather than file a formal PTO request. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick himself joked back in April that many people would call in sick on release day.
What the data actually shows – and what it doesn’t
It’s worth keeping the numbers in perspective. BambooHR’s leave records measure requests submitted, not confirmed absences, and the company says it cannot attribute the entire increase to GTA 6. The 18% survey figure reflects stated intentions, which may not turn into real absences.
Economist Jose Garcia Montalvo has estimated the launch could mean roughly 1.5 million U.S. absences, costing about $1 billion in output – but as outlets like Fortune and IGN note, that figure is a rough projection, not a published study, and other economists argue the real effect will be far smaller, since a day off mostly shifts leisure time rather than destroying it.
GTA VI releases Nov. 19, 2026 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, with Newzoo forecasting at least 37 million copies sold in its first week. Whether offices notice depends on how many of those sick days are real – but the scheduling software already has.
Also Read: GTA 6’s Map Opens Up Relatively Early and Lets You Explore Leonida Freely, Rockstar Confirms
Source: MarketWatch — read the full story there.
