Survey predicts 1.5M will call out sick for GTA 6 release

I got in some trouble in the army. Didn't leave on the best of terms. They don't give loans or anything to people like me. This is a free call from Lucia Caminos. Possibly the biggest video game release of all time happens next week. After more than 13 years of waiting, Grand Theft Auto 6 comes out on November 19th. According to online reports, millions have already pre-ordered the game. And according to surveys, many of those people may be sick that day from work. Fox 13's A.J. Janneville spoke with a local expert on the economic impact this release is projected to have on the country. According to online reports, it's possible there will be a $1 billion loss in U.S. productivity when GTA 6 comes out next week. So I came out to Seattle to ask people if they're getting the game. You got Grand Theft Auto locked in? Yeah, I already pre-ordered GTA 6. We already put the pre-orders in. I'm pretty excited. Are you going to get GTA 6? Are you? Are you going to get it? Comes out on Thursday, November 19th. Are you going to go to work that day? Okay. . Comes out on a Thursday. . . A lot of people are either calling out or using vacation time. Yeah, that's going to be a game time decision for me. I might start, you know, doing some sniffles and some coughs on Wednesday. Reports estimate 1.5 million Americans are going to skip work Thursday, November 19th. The real question is, are people going to, you know, take more time off work than they would have otherwise in large enough numbers for us to notice it? I spoke to Nick Huntington-Klein, an associate professor of economics at Seattle University, about the possible productivity loss. My suspicion is that the numbers that you would expect to see in productivity harm based on the survey results. are probably not going to be actually as big in real life. However, some companies are forward-thinking regardless of Thursday's actual numbers. This, for us, is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Robin Peasbournin is the global GM and VP of Logitech G, the dedicated gaming division of Logitech. He tells me looking at productivity research and the historic moment that is GTA's release, Logitech created a holiday for its employees. And instead of making it into a thing where they have to take out of their PTO or vacation time, we can now just give that day off for them to embrace this. And then they can rest assured, not have to call in a hooky or whatever. Reporting in Seattle, AJ Janneville, Fox 13 News.