GTA 6 launch drives significant increase in US leave requests

Anticipation for the release of Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6) is impacting workforce patterns in the United States. Data from HR management platform BambooHR indicates that paid time off (PTO) requests for the game's launch date, November 19, 2026, have increased by approximately 9% to 17% compared to historical averages for similar periods.

BambooHR, which manages data for over 3.4 million active employees in the US, noted this surge in requests. While the data does not explicitly confirm that every employee is taking leave specifically to play the game, the spike coincides directly with the official release date for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. GTA 6 is the highly anticipated successor to GTA V, which was originally released in 2013.