- Logitech offers paid ‘Logi Game Day’ for 7,000 employees.
- US Army, other companies, offer special GTA 6 leave.
- Surveys suggest widespread employee leave for game’s launch.
- International data reveals a surge in launch-day leave requests.
GTA 6 Leave: The countdown to Grand Theft Auto VI is beginning to have an unusual impact on the working world, with companies making room for employees who want to trade their office desks for a gaming console. Logitech is the latest company to embrace the excitement, announcing a new paid leave initiative that will allow approximately 7,000 employees worldwide to take a day off specifically to play video games.
Called Logi Game Day, the initiative gives full-time employees and interns one additional paid day off to enjoy a game of their choice. The benefit can be used anytime between now and November 2027, meaning employees are not required to take the leave on the launch date of Rockstar Games’ much-awaited Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6).
However, the timing of the announcement is significant. GTA 6 is scheduled to arrive on November 19, 2026, more than 13 years after Grand Theft Auto V. The release is already influencing workplace calendars, with employee surveys and HR platforms reporting a surge in planned absences across several countries.
Logitech Introduces Logi Game Day For 7,000 Employees
Announced on November 10, Logitech’s Logi Game Day initiative is designed to recognise gaming as more than just a recreational activity. The company plans to host a special gaming and streaming event at its Americas headquarters in San Jose, California, on November 19, coinciding with the launch of GTA 6.
Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber said the company wants to challenge conventional perceptions about gaming and its relationship with professional performance.
“It’s time to retire the stereotype that gaming is a waste of time,” Faber said. “As a company designing products for work and play, we see every day how engagement in one sphere supports performance in the other.”
The company’s announcement draws on its Ctrl Tomorrow research, which found that 81% of surveyed gamers believe gaming builds real-world confidence, reduces anxiety and is associated with better day-to-day work performance.
Logitech also cited another study in which 98.8% of enterprise IT decision-makers said gaming skills translate into workplace capabilities, including strategic thinking, complex problem-solving and performing under pressure.
The company believes that giving employees dedicated time to play can help them return to work with renewed energy and focus. Importantly, the additional leave is not restricted to GTA 6. Employees can choose any game they want.
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GTA 6 Leave Announcements: US Army, Russian Company And Others Join The Trend
Logitech is not the first organisation to make special arrangements around the release of GTA 6.
Earlier this year, an Army unit stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia, US, introduced an unusual reenlistment incentive. The 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion, part of the 3rd Infantry Division, offered eligible soldiers a four-day pass coinciding with the game’s November 19 release.
The offer was available to soldiers who agreed to reenlist between August 1 and November 14, 2026, committing to an additional two to six years of service.
According to a statement from 3rd Infantry Division spokesperson Lt. Col. Angel Tomko to ABC News, 20 soldiers had accepted the incentive at the time of reporting. The offer was part of a broader effort to introduce creative incentives for military personnel.
A Russian company has also joined the trend. Benza, a manufacturer of fuel station equipment based in Penza, announced on November 9 that employees planning to play GTA 6 on launch day would receive an additional holiday.
The company’s offer reportedly covers employees regardless of their position or gender. However, there is a condition: workers must demonstrate that they own a suitable gaming console and the game to qualify for the leave. Benza employs approximately 240 people.
Meanwhile, California-based automotive parts and tuning company Burger Motorsports has announced a temporary suspension of operations on November 19. The company cited scheduling conflicts after several employees informed management that they would be unavailable on launch day.
In a notice shared on social media, the company warned that customer support, order processing, shipping, engineering and other departments could experience delays. It said normal operations would resume once employees had completed their initial exploration of the game and returned to reality.
These announcements suggest that the GTA 6 launch is becoming a workplace event in its own right, rather than remaining confined to the gaming community.
GTA 6 Could See 12.5 Million Americans Take Time Off, PCMag Survey Finds
The excitement surrounding GTA 6 is also showing up in workforce research.
A PCMag survey conducted through YouGov estimates that approximately 12.5 million American gamers could take paid time off or change their work and school schedules to play the game.
The estimate is based on a survey of 2,024 US adults, including 1,154 respondents who qualified as gamers. Conducted between October 23 and October 27, 2026, the research found that 8% of American adult gamers intended to adjust their schedules around the release.
The figure of 12.5 million is an extrapolation from the survey, rather than a count of confirmed leave applications. Nevertheless, it provides an indication of the potential scale of the launch.
A separate BambooHR study offers another perspective. The HR platform analysed anonymised leave records covering more than 3.4 million active US employees between 2024 and 2026. It found that paid time off requests for November 19 were nearly 13% higher than comparable Thursdays in previous years.
Its survey of 1,530 full-time US employees also found that 18% planned to take the day off for GTA 6. The figure was significantly higher among younger workers, with 32% of Gen Z respondents and 27% of millennials planning to take leave.
Interestingly, the research suggests that not everyone intends to book their leave officially. BambooHR found that 50% of gamers planning to take time off for an upcoming game release said they would consider calling in sick rather than scheduling paid leave in advance.
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UK, Canada And Europe Also See A Surge In GTA 6 Leave Requests
The trend is not restricted to American workplaces.
BambooHR’s international platform data recorded an 8.3% increase in leave requests for November 19 in the UK compared with equivalent Thursdays in previous years. Canada registered a 6.6% increase.
Another analysis by workforce management platform Remote found that employees using its global platform had booked 32% more leave for November 19 compared with the same Thursday in 2025. The increase was the largest recorded for a single working day in 2026 outside major holiday periods.
Remote’s data also identified Italy as the country with the sharpest increase, with launch-day leave bookings reaching 1.91 times the previous year’s level. Gen Z men recorded the biggest generational increase, at 2.20 times the comparable figure.
The UK is witnessing a particularly noticeable trend. HR and absence management company BrightHR analysed leave records covering more than 1.2 million employees across 70,000 businesses.
Its findings suggest that GTA-related requests account for 4.63% of all reasons given for taking leave on November 19. The company estimates that approximately 83,000 days of leave have been booked across November and December specifically for the game.
BrightHR has calculated that these absences represent an estimated £12.4 million in annual leave costs for UK employers, including approximately £3.14 million for launch day alone. The estimates use an assumed daily leave cost of £150 and are based on the company’s workforce data.
Could GTA 6 Cost The US Economy $1 Billion In Lost Productivity?
With millions of workers potentially adjusting their schedules, questions are emerging about whether the game’s release could have a measurable economic impact.
One widely circulated estimate suggests that the US economy could lose as much as $1 billion in productivity because of GTA 6-related absences.
The projection has been attributed to economist Jose Garcia-Montalvo of Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona. It draws on previous patterns of absenteeism associated with the release of Grand Theft Auto V.
Some reports have combined an estimated 1.5 million potential worker absences with an assumed annual economic output of approximately $70,000 per American worker to arrive at the $1 billion figure.
However, the estimate requires considerable qualification. It is not an official economic forecast or a peer-reviewed study, and it has not been established that the economist himself produced the 1.5 million absenteeism estimate.
Simply translating annual worker output into a one-day productivity loss also does not account for employees using paid leave, rescheduling work, working remotely or completing pending assignments later.
Consequently, the $1 billion figure should be treated as a speculative estimate rather than a verified economic loss.
The more concrete evidence comes from HR platforms tracking leave applications and surveys measuring employees’ intentions. These suggest that the release could create temporary staffing challenges, particularly in industries with a high concentration of younger employees and gaming enthusiasts.
When Is GTA 6 Releasing And Which Platforms Will Get It?
Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled to release on November 19, 2026, for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Developed by Rockstar Games and published by Take-Two Interactive, the game will mark the first major new instalment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise since GTA V arrived in September 2013.
The latest instalment returns players to Vice City, a fictional location inspired by Miami, within the state of Leonida. The game follows protagonists Jason Duval and Lucia Caminos as they navigate a sprawling criminal world.
With more than a decade separating the two mainline releases, expectations surrounding GTA 6 extend well beyond the gaming industry. And if employee leave applications, unusual corporate incentives and workplace shutdowns are any indication, November 19 could be an unusually quiet day at offices around the world.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: abplive.com
