GTA 6 Launch Projected to Cost U.S. Economy $1 Billion as Workers Plan Leave
The upcoming November 19 release of Grand Theft Auto 6 could cost the U.S. economy up to $1 billion as millions of workers plan to take leave or call in sick to play the highly anticipated game.
The upcoming release of Grand Theft Auto 6 on November 19 is projected to cost the U.S. economy up to $1 billion in a single day, as millions of employees prepare to step away from work. According to economic estimates, approximately 1.5 million workers may skip work on launch day to play the highly anticipated title, more than 13 years after its predecessor.
Data from workforce management firm BambooHR, which analyzed records for over 3.4 million U.S. employees, shows that PTO requests for November 19 are roughly 13 percent higher than comparable Thursdays in November 2024 and 2025. This marks a sharp contrast to the general year-over-year increase in leave requests, which sits between 2 and 4 percent.
A separate survey by BambooHR of 1,530 full-time U.S. workers revealed that 18 percent intend to take a day off to play the game. Among Generation Z employees, that figure jumps to 32 percent, while 27 percent of Millennials plan to do the same. Furthermore, half of gamers planning to take time off admitted they would rather call in sick than request leave in advance, potentially catching employers off guard.
Another workforce platform, UKG, reported similar trends, noting that leave requests for November 19 were about 20 percent higher than usual for the pre-Thanksgiving period. While the billion-dollar impact figure stems from a broader economic projection by Professor Jose Garcia Montalvo of Pompeu Fabra University, the rising tide of leave requests underscores the massive cultural footprint of the launch.
Take-Two Interactive, traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker TTWO and parent company of developer Rockstar Games, stands to reap substantial financial gains. Set to launch at a starting price of $79.99 in the U.S., GTA 6 follows the monumental success of GTA 5, which debuted in September 2013.
