1.5 Million US Workers Plan to Skip 19 November for GTA 6, Estimate Says
An estimated 1.5 million US workers plan to take 19 November off for GTA 6, a day IBTimes puts at $1 billion in lost output. Stock photo: Eren Li / Pexels (Pexels License) An estimated 1.5 million American workers plan to take 19 November 2026 off to play GTA 6, a day that IBTimes says would cost the US economy $1 bi...
An estimated 1.5 million US workers plan to take 19 November off for GTA 6, a day IBTimes puts at $1 billion in lost output.
Stock photo: Eren Li / Pexels (Pexels License)An estimated 1.5 million American workers plan to take 19 November 2026 off to play GTA 6, a day that IBTimes says would cost the US economy $1 billion in lost output.
Push Square relayed the figure with the game less than a month from release.
The idea is that workers use the launch date to spend the whole day in Jason and Lucia's adventure.
Push Square wrote that the numbers suggest a lot of people intend to book at least one day off, or call in sick, for the game. It called the hype around Rockstar Games' latest release unmatched.
Take-Two's cash flow sets a similar figure against the loss
Push Square pointed out that Rockstar's parent company, Take-Two Interactive, expects more than $1 billion in operating cash flow in its current fiscal year.
GTA 6 is the main driver behind that forecast. Employers would lose a day of labour from some staff while the publisher collects a comparable sum.
The two numbers measure different things. One is work that does not get done, the other is cash the publisher brings in from its operations.
Push Square also cautioned that the loss only holds if the 1.5 million estimate is accurate.
Online reaction and Push Square's reader polls
The estimate spread quickly on X, where posts summarising it drew thousands of likes.
Push Square said it saw one user compare the launch to Japan's response to a new Dragon Quest game, when the country largely stops so people can play on day one.
Push Square attached two polls to its piece. The first asked readers whether they will take time off for the launch, with answers ranging from absolutely to not interested in GTA 6.
It had 899 votes when the page was captured.
The second asked how long readers plan to stay away from work. The choices were launch day only, a few days, a week or more, or no time off, and it had 758 votes.
Early comments under the article included readers saying they would play after work and others ruling out any leave.
Original reporting appears on the publisher’s site.
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