BambooHR, a human resources company that provides software-as-a-service for more than 30,000 companies, has released data that suggests people are taking time off to play GTA 6 this November.
You might have seen anecdotes online, or even stories from people you know in real life, about skipping work on November 19 to play GTA 6. BambooHR’s data, though, shows a more concrete trend.
Using paid time off (PTO) data from active employees in the US, BambooHR found that PTO requests for the third Thursday of November this year–the day that GTA 6 launches–are running 9-17% above historical averages from recent years.
This data is consistent “at every checkpoint we can measure,” the company said in a memo sent to GameSpot.
GTA 6 launches on a Thursday. There is no word on PTO data for the following day, but who wants to go back to work on a Friday? I would theorize people might book that day off, too, but BambooHR didn’t share any data for this. A playthrough of the game can take 80 hours to complete, so it’s good at least that people can roll right into the weekend and keep playing.
BambooHR acknowledged that it cannot definitively say that GTA 6 is the reason for the increased PTO for November 19. However, the company said the data does show a “real, reproducible signal.” Who knows? Maybe people are booking time off from work to play Witch the Showdown in early access, which is also releasing that day.
Or perhaps people are taking time off work to celebrate the births of Jodie Foster and Adam Driver. Maybe people want to mark the 406th anniversary of the Mayflower reaching Cape Cod, or the 163rd anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. We just can’t know.
In any event, GTA 6 launches on November 19 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Also launching that day is GTA 6: The Album, which features 34 songs written for the game from a range of famous artists. Unlike the game, the album will be on a disc.