Holiday requests surge ahead of GTA 6 launch on 19 November, Personio and Remote data show

Workers book time off around the launch

Employees are requesting leave around the release of Grand Theft Auto VI on Thursday, 19 November, according to workforce data published on 12 November. Personio, a personnel software provider, says requests for the launch day and the days after are above average, with Germany 38 percent over its average. Requests for time off in lieu of overtime in Germany are 58 percent higher. Personio also reports that many employees plan to take the Thursday and Friday of the following week, 19 and 20 November, while the days before the premiere look unremarkable.

Remote, a Personio rival, measures a worldwide rise of 32 percent in holiday requests. Italy shows the sharpest change, with nearly twice as many employees taking leave as usual, followed by India at 60 percent and Ireland at 57 percent. Germany did not make Remote's top ten. Men from Generation Z, born from about 1995 onward, lead the rise at 120 percent, and within companies, finance staff (up 104 percent) and marketing staff (up 75 percent) are overrepresented.

Germany (Personio)38%

Germany, overtime time off (Personio)58%

Worldwide (Remote)32%

India (Remote)60%

Ireland (Remote)57%

Generation Z men (Remote)120%

Germany (Personio)

38 %

Germany, overtime time off (Personio)

58 %

Worldwide (Remote)

32 %

India (Remote)

60 %

Ireland (Remote)

57 %

Generation Z men (Remote)

120 %

Data from the article text

Absence data from the UK

BrightHR, an HR platform, examined absence records from more than 1.2 million employees at over 70,000 UK companies. It found that 5 percent of employees gave the game's release as a reason for their absence, more often than honeymoons, graduations or day trips. Based on its calculations, the annual leave linked to the launch is worth about 3.14 million pounds for 19 November alone. Around 83,000 leave days booked for late November and December, used to finish the game, would cost British employers nearly 12.4 million pounds.

Launch day, 19 November (annual leave value)3.14

Late November and December (paid by employers)12.4

Launch day, 19 November (annual leave value)

3.14 million GBP

Late November and December (paid by employers)

12.4 million GBP

Data from the article text

Sales expectations and the launch format

Take-Two, the parent company of developer Rockstar Games, raised its 2026 revenue forecast to between 7.98 and 8.18 billion dollars, up from 7.9 to 8.1 billion dollars. Estimates cited in the German reports put GTA VI sales at up to 5.2 billion dollars in launch week alone. The predecessor, GTA V, released in 2013, has sold 230 million units. The publisher says the first trailer reached more than 93 million views within 24 hours, and the second more than 475 million views across platforms. Pre-orders, according to the company, have broken all previous sales records.

Stern notes that the game goes on sale in shops from 12 November, but the box holds a code rather than a disc, so buyers need an internet connection to download it. The game is only playable from 19 November, and at launch it is available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. Versions for PC or Switch 2 circulate as rumours without official confirmation.

Console traffic and online speculation

Internet provider United Internet, asked for comment, said download requests from PlayStation and Xbox consoles had risen since buyers began downloading the software several days ago. The company expects heavier traffic around the 19 November release but does not expect its network infrastructure to be overloaded.

“Compared with ordinary nights, the increase at times reached a factor of about ten.”

On TikTok and other platforms, gamers debate whether to take a holiday or a single day off for the release, and some say they booked 19 November months ago. A circulating estimate, reported by the International Business Times and cited by stern, puts the number of US workers who could call in sick or skip shifts to play on launch day at up to about 1.5 million. Online users also speculate about a sickness wave in Germany, which would bring employers more sick notes. No article confirms either estimate.