Time off requests for 19 November rise by up to 17 percent

More American workers are asking for 19 November off, the release day of Grand Theft Auto VI. Requests are 9 to 17 percent above a normal third Thursday of November. That is shown by figures from BambooHR, a maker of HR software, reported by Money.

Figures from September

BambooHR shared the figures with the American financial site Money in September, ten weeks before the release. IGN picked them up this week. How the numbers have moved since then is not known.

Whether GTA VI is the reason for every request cannot be said for certain, Money writes. A spokesperson for BambooHR points to a broader trend of people using their days off more freely.

A shop closes for the day

Money also mentions a motorsports shop in California that will close on 19 November. In a notice on social media, the shop pointed to scheduling conflicts among its staff because of the release. The name of the shop is not in the article.

The Wall Street Journal warned earlier of a “work blackout” around the game, according to Money. The gaming site Win.gg estimates the cost of lost productivity the day after release at 5 billion dollar across the United States. That estimate rests on players who say they lose two hours of productivity after a late night of gaming.

Grand Theft Auto VI comes out on 19 November for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S.