Around 1.5 million Americans plan to skip work when Grand Theft Auto 6 launches on 19 November, a mass sick day one economist estimates could drain roughly $1 billion (£740 million) from US output in a single day.
The estimate comes from José García Montalvo, an economics professor at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. His figure is an academic projection rather than an official forecast, but the reasoning is simple. People need time to play it.