Grand Theft Auto VI Is Coming—and It Could Cost Businesses Billions in Lost Productivity
The November 19 release of the world’s most popular video game has many employees already budgeting swaths of PTO to binge play, and some employers deciding to close shop when they do.
Employers have already weathered drops in workplace productivity during college basketball’s March Madness tournament, as well as this summer’s month of World Cup soccer play. But now businesses must prepare for another likely dip in employee performance, when the much-awaited update of the mega-popular video game Grand Theft Auto is released in November, and worker-gamers become scarce.
Why should managers anticipate more bleary-eyed, distracted, and even absent employees when Grand Theft Auto VI drops November 19? Because in the gaming universe, GTA represents March Madness and the World Cup combined. Maker Rockstar Games has 5 million pre-orders already on its books, and will likely once again break new sales records when even more fans converge on stores to scoop the updated version up. Once they do—and in contrast to the recent basketball and soccer tournaments—players won’t be limited by schedules or increasingly fewer knockout matches determining when and how long they can partake in the action.
In addition to that, there’s the abundantly whetted appetite factor.
GTA VI fans already aching for its delayed release
Complications forced Rockstar Games to repeatedly delay release
Complications forced Rockstar Games to repeatedly delay release of GTA IV, stoking the impatience and anticipation of fans to inferno levels. Those setbacks lengthened the 13-year wait since the last version dropped in 2013—when the company sold $1 billion copies in a mere three days. Overall, the franchise has racked up 475 million in unit sales that are now set to explode again.
The other give-away that workplace attendance and productivity levels are likely to dip after the game’s release is that employee-gamers are themselves evoking that scenario as they wait for GTA VI.
A recent Wall Street Journalarticle interviewed workers describing their plans to take two, five, even 10 days off to submerge themselves in marathon playing of GTA VI—which is popular for its diverse cast of characters, life-like settings, and the freedom of action and morality giving to players who can resort to crime or violence when necessary.
Refreshed leadership advice from CEO Stephanie Mehta
An Inc.com Featured Presentation
The paper’s report isn’t the only place fans are copping to taking paid time off (PTO) to play GTA VI—or simply not reporting to work as they continue playing it.
I booked off the Thursday/Friday when they moved
“I booked off the Thursday/Friday when they moved the dates,” said talesofadesigner in a post on social media platform Reddit that asked “are you taking the day off work on November 19th? “I’m seriously considering booking off the following week as well.”
“Half of the store I work at is taking the 19th off, including the store manager himself,” said RelevantButNotBasic.
“I’m taking the entire month off,” one-upped LoganTXR. “(I) have 31 days of PTO and i worked through bullshit this entire year. if i don’t get it I’m going to my therapist and claiming burnout.”
Source: www.inc.com
