Grand Theft Auto VI comes out on Thursday, November 19, and American workers are already asking for the day off. HR software company BambooHR found that time-off requests for that date were 9% to 17% above a typical third Thursday of November. It shared the data with Money.
Money published that figure on September 14, ten weeks before launch. With 23 days to go, managers and players want to know how big the launch-day absence will be. This data can answer only part of that.
What BambooHR’s GTA 6 numbers measure
BambooHR sells HR and payroll software, and its customers log employee leave requests in its system. So the company can see when workers ask for time off and compare it with earlier years.
The baseline is the third Thursday of November, which always falls one week before Thanksgiving. This year Thanksgiving is November 26, so launch day is that Thursday.
BambooHR has not published its full method. Money did not say how many companies or employees the data covered.
A later International Business Times report gives a newer figure. It says BambooHR reported on October 22 that November 19 requests were “nearly 13%” above comparable Thursdays.
IBTimes said that figure came from anonymised records covering more than 3.4 million US-based employees. It also reported a rise of almost 11% for Friday, November 20.
We could not find either figure on BambooHR’s own website. The company has not said whether the counts cover approved leave or all requests. It also hasn’t explained how it arrived at the 9% to 17% range.
BambooHR is also careful about the cause. A spokesperson told Money the trend could also reflect a cultural push toward using time off more freely. Its records show when people asked for leave, not why.
Why the real absence could be bigger, or smaller
Requests filed weeks ahead are only one way people skip work. Some will call in sick on the day, and that would not show up in advance leave data at all.
A separate survey hints at how common that might be.
GameSquare, a Nasdaq-listed gaming media and marketing company, ran the poll. It surveyed US full-time workers on the Pollfish platform on September 23 and 24.
In its published report, 29% of the full-time workers it surveyed said they were considering time off for GTA 6. GameSquare estimated that about 10% definitely plan to take it.
Among gamers considering time off, 39% would request it in advance. Another 36% said they would call in sick. These are stated intentions, gathered by a company that sells marketing around the launch. Treat them as a ceiling, not a forecast.
The hard data is more modest than the survey. A rise in the low to mid teens in advance requests is real but modest, and it covers both Thursday and Friday. For most offices, it means a few extra empty desks rather than a shutdown.
Some employers are not waiting to find out. One California motorsports shop has already decided to close on November 19, Money reported. Its memo cited “multiple employee scheduling conflicts” tied to the release.
The $1 billion claim, and what US law says about days off
Headlines have also claimed the launch could cost the US economy $1 billion in a day. Fortune reported on October 22 that the estimate does not come from a published study. It quoted Victor Matheson, an economist at the College of the Holy Cross who studies major events. “This is much more likely to rearrange the economy rather than fundamentally change it,” he said.
For individual workers, the practical question is whether the boss has to give, or pay for, the day. Federal law doesn’t require either.
The Labor Department says the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require pay for time not worked, such as vacations. Paid time off comes from company policy, a union contract or state and local sick-leave laws. Those laws cover illness, not game launches.
So the safest route is the boring one: ask early. A Thursday plus Friday request turns launch week into a four-day weekend. It also lands just before many offices go quiet for Thanksgiving.
What Rockstar and Take-Two have confirmed
Much of the GTA 6 chatter mixes leaks with fact. Here is what the publisher has put on the record. Rockstar’s official Grand Theft Auto VI page says the game is “Coming November 19, 2026.” It lists PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
The rest comes from Rockstar’s June 24 pre-order announcement, posted on Take-Two’s investor site.
- Price: $79.99 standard, $99.99 for the Ultimate Edition
- Preload: from November 12 for digital pre-orders
- Boxed copies: a download code, not a disc, on sale November 12 so buyers can preload too
- Bonuses: the Vintage Vice City Pack with orders before November 20, plus a free month of GTA+ for digital pre-orders
Neither the official page nor the announcement mentions a PC version. The announcement also does not give an unlock hour for launch day. We found no official Rockstar statement on when reviews will appear. Reports about review copies rest on leakers, so we have left them out.
Take-Two, Rockstar’s parent company, has a lot riding on the date. Its August 7 earnings release kept a forecast of $8.0 billion to $8.2 billion in fiscal-year net bookings. CEO Strauss Zelnick pointed to “excitement around the November 19th launch of Grand Theft Auto VI.”
Launch day lands in a tense year for game industry jobs. Microsoft’s July cuts fell hardest on Xbox. The company is now offering buyouts to 60,000 workers, Xbox staff among them.
A $79.99 game also tests household entertainment budgets. Netflix alone has raised US prices four times since 2022, as we found when we looked at why people are opening Netflix less.
The dates to watch before launch day
Take-Two reports its second-quarter results after the market closes on Monday, November 9, with a call at 4:30 p.m. Eastern, the company said. That is its last scheduled update before launch. It is the next chance to hear executives discuss the launch on the record.
Preloading opens on Thursday, November 12. The game itself arrives a week later, on November 19, and the pre-order bonus window closes the next day.
