Rockstar Games
Man on a pool float in Grand Theft Auto VI
We’re a month away from the release of Grand Theft Auto VI, which is probably the most highly anticipated video game of all time. There’s no way to know how many Americans will skip work to play it, but an economics professor attempted to figure that out while forecasting a massive hit for the companies that will have to deal with their absence.
It’s been close to 4,800 days since the release of Grand Theft Auto V, which has become the most profitable entertainment product ever released since the most recent installment of the wildly popular video game franchise came out on September 17, 2013.
That title dropped players into an updated version of San Andreas five years after the previous one transported them back to Liberty City, but fans hoping for the next follow-up have been forced to endure a more than 13-year wait that will finally come to an end when Grand Theft Auto VI finally drops on November 19th of this year.
Based on Rockstar’s reputation (along with the footage and early reviews we’ve been treated to so far), it’s very, very hard to imagine that it’s not going to live up to the virtually unprecedented amount of hype surrounding it.
The fact that GTA VI is coming out on a Thursday is less than ideal for people who work a typical job, as they’ll have to wait until the weekend rolls around to truly dive into the world of Leonida. However, those who opt to schedule some time off or call in “sick” have the potential to collectively cost their employers a significant chunk of change.
An economics professor believes 1.5 million people will miss work to play GTA VI and be responsible for $1 billion in lost productivity
Some employers are very aware of the impact GTA VI is poised to have on their workers.
Over the summer, a company in California opted to wave the white flag by preemptively scaling back operations on release day, and the head of an Army battalion stationed in Georgia dangled a four-day pass that coincides with the debut to try to boost reenlistments.
According to the International Business Times, José GarcÃa Montalvo, a professor of economics at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, attempted to figure out just how costly the release of GTA VI will be to the American economy, and he settled on a ten-figure sum after crunching the numbers.
Montalvo estimates 1.5 million people in the United States will skip out on work to play the game on the 19th, noting most of them will fall in the 18 to 30 range and asserting the tech industry will be disproportionately impacted by absences.
He pegged the average salary at $70,000, and if the 2% productivity dip he forecasts is correct, GTA VI will end up costing the companies they work for around $1 billion in a single day.
GTA VI isn’t the only form of entertainment with the ability to have an impact on that scale; March Madness is responsible for an even bigger number, as the NCAA Tournament was thought to be the root of around $12 billion worth of lost productivity this year.