Abstract:
With "Grand Theft Auto 6" scheduled to be officially released on November 19 (Thursday), the fact that this most anticipated game of the year has not yet been released has caused a chain reaction. According to José Montalvo, professor of economics at the University of Pompeu Fabra in Spain A study released by Montalvo predicts that the economic losses in the United States due to employees skipping work or taking time off to play games on the day of release may be as high as $1 billion.
Research points out that on the day of release, a large number of American men aged 18 to 30 will choose to take leave or miss work in order to immediately dive into the adventure of Los Santos. For reference, when "Give Him Love 5" was released in September 2013, about 2% of workers aged 18 to 35 in major American cities took time off to play games.
Professor Montalvo calculated based on this that the productivity loss caused by "GTA6" on the first day of release may reach a staggering US$1 billion. For an average working day, this amounts to a massive temporary “shutdown” across the country.
Some American companies have already sensed this storm in advance. Burger Motorsports, a California-based automobile company, publicly announced that as many employees have applied for leave on the launch day, the company's daily operations will be affected from November 19. Customer support, logistics delivery, order processing and overall work efficiency are expected to slow down for at least a few days.
This company is not alone. As the release of "GTA6" approaches, more companies that rely on young labor may face similar staffing challenges.
What is quite dramatic is that while the U.S. economy may lose US$1 billion due to the shutdown, Take-Two, the publisher of "GTA6", expects to receive about US$1 billion in cash flow from sales revenue. Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said that part of the revenue will come from game sales and related daily operations.
Since Take-Two has no other major projects scheduled for 2026, "GTA6" is expected to contribute the majority of the company's revenue. It is interesting to note that Rockstar North, which leads the development of this game, is located in Edinburgh, Scotland, which means that a considerable part of the US$1 billion in productivity "lost" to the US economy may be converted into gains for the British economy.
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