Employees have begun taking mass time off for November — on the release day of GTA VI
Translated with AI from the Russian original.
The release of Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled for November 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles. There have already been reports of people arranging a full vacation or a day off in advance for the game’s launch date, and companies have begun warning about suspending operations for the day.
As the launch of GTA VI approaches, the number of specialists taking time off is gradually increasing. Users recently drew attention to statistics previously cited by HR software developer BambooHR. According to the company, the number of time-off requests for November 19 is “9–17% higher than on a typical third Thursday of November.”
Specific reasons for taking time off were not analyzed (it seems there is no access to such data), but experts had previously predicted that something similar would occur because of GTA VI.
The potential economic damage from Grand Theft Auto VI is estimated at a billion dollars. The technology sector is expected to be the hardest hit, with an anticipated drop in labor productivity. Even if a person did not take time off, they could have played all night and will be exhausted; during the workday, they might be distracted by game streams or discuss the new release with colleagues.
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