GTA 6 'Flu' Pushes Employers to Brace for $1 Billion Hit as Rockstar Eyes Launch Day

Around 1.5 million Americans could skip work on Thursday, 19 November, when Grand Theft Auto 6 arrives, with one economist estimating that the absences could cost the US economy roughly $1 billion (£740 million) in lost output.

Where the Billion Dollars Actually Goes

The figure comes from José García Montalvo, a professor of economics at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, who estimated that about 1.5 million US workers skipping a single day would trim national output by roughly 2%. He put average annual output per worker near $70,000 (£52,000), which produces the headline $1 billion (£740 million) loss. Most absences fall among workers aged 18 to 30, with technology firms expected to feel the sharpest pinch.

That sum is an estimate of lost economic output, not money that automatically flows to the game publisher. Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar's parent, stands to benefit commercially from the game's launch, but the claim that it expects to earn close to $1 billion on launch day requires independent verification. Much of the game's development is handled by Rockstar North in Edinburgh, Scotland, the lead studio behind the game.

One Viral Memo Turns Staffing Into a Punchline

The clearest sign that bosses are watching came from Burger Motorsports, a performance car-parts maker in Simi Valley, California. The company posted an internal-style memo on Instagram announcing a 'temporary company-wide operational pause' on 19 November, citing 'multiple employee scheduling conflicts' after staff warned they would be 'in Vice City'.

Burger Motorsports later told The California Post the notice was tongue-in-cheek, and several outlets read it as a publicity stunt that worked. The company subsequently clarified that it was operating normally and that customers could rely on its usual order processing and support. The joke lands because the staffing problem behind it is real.

Who Loses the Day and Who Banks It

Market research firm Newzoo estimates GTA 6 could sell at least 37 million copies in its opening week, with global first-week retail bookings running as high as $4.5 billion (£3.36 billion). The reported figures of 5.2 million pre-orders and close to 475 million franchise sales also require confirmation against their original sources. The pattern is not new. When Grand Theft Auto 5 launched in 2013, some reports found as many as 6% of young workers in cities such as Los Angeles and New York took the day off.

Take-Two chief executive Strauss Zelnick has leaned into the absenteeism himself. Speaking at the iicon conference in Las Vegas in April, he said, 'I think a lot of people will be calling in sick on November 19.' When the company selling the game openly predicts the sick day, employers can hardly claim they weren't warned.

What a Thursday Launch Means for Small Firms

GTA 6 arrives on a Thursday, one week before Thanksgiving, on a normal working day rather than a weekend. Large employers can spread a 2% dip across thousands of staff. A small business that loses three of ten workers cannot.

Montalvo's $1 billion is an estimate, not an audited figure, and its method has drawn scrutiny. What is harder to argue with is the direction of the potential productivity loss and the commercial opportunity for the game's publisher. For one Thursday in November, US payrolls could absorb the cost of employee absences while Rockstar and Take-Two seek to turn demand into sales.