Grand Theft Auto VI hasn’t even launched yet and economists are already counting the cost. The game arrives on Nov. 19 and estimates suggest U.S. businesses could lose around $1 billion in productivity during launch week. So many people intend to take the day or even the whole week off that the impact on the country will be significant enough to pay attention to. Men aged 18 to 30 are the ones most likely to take time off from work for the game's launch, and because many of them work in tech, that sector expects the sharpest dip.
Some fans are treating Nov. 19 like a public holiday. One software engineer quoted by The Wall Street Journal said that he blocked off a full working week for GTA 6, and he is far from the only one. Economist Jose Garcia Montalvo estimates that the U.S. could see a roughly 2% short-term productivity drop around the launch, which is where the $1 billion figure comes from.
