1.5 million Americans calling in sick for GTA 6? Where the number comes from

Confirmed Published on October 27, 2026 3 min read By Alex di LeonidaGuide Last checked October 27, 2026

Illustration: an empty desk in a Miami office at dawn, the chair pushed back, a sticky note with a thermometer on the monitor and a calendar with a November day circled in pink — Original illustration: on November 19 some people will not go to the office. Image: Leonidaguide

“1.5 million Americans ready to call in sick on GTA 6 day”, “a billion dollars of damage to the economy”. These headlines have been going around for weeks. The problem is that neither number comes from a survey or a study. There is a real figure, though, smaller and more interesting.

Where the numbers come from

Zelnick’s line

In April Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick said at a conference in Las Vegas that “a lot of people will be calling in sick on November 19”. It was a joke to say the game is hotly anticipated, not a forecast: he gave no numbers.

Illustration: an empty desk in a Miami office at dawn, with a calendar and a November day circled in pink

Original illustration.

The real figure: time off

One company did look at real numbers. BambooHR, which manages attendance for many American companies, found that time-off requests for Thursday, November 19 are 9% to 17% higher than a typical third Thursday of November.

So yes, some people are taking the day, but with paid time off, not with a fake flu.

And the economy?

Victor Matheson, an economist at the College of the Holy Cross who studies major events, dismisses the alarm in Fortune with two arguments. First: anyone taking November 19 off will take one fewer day another time, so work moves, it does not disappear. Second: even if the billion were real, it would be a tiny fraction of the US economy, and a day of fun is not necessarily a loss.

If you are thinking of taking the day too, mind the timing: GTA 6 unlocks at midnight local time, the night between November 18 and 19, as explained in our unlock time guide.

In brief

The “1.5 million Americans calling in sick” comes from no survey.
The “billion dollars of damage” does not come from a published study either.
Zelnick joked about sick days on November 19, but gave no numbers.
The real data is BambooHR’s: November 19 time-off requests 9% to 17% above normal.
For economists the effect on the economy is minimal: work moves, it is not lost.

Frequently asked questions

Is it true that 1.5 million Americans will call in sick for GTA 6?

No survey says so. It is an estimate created to explain the billion-dollar figure, which itself does not come from a published study.

How many people will take time off for GTA 6?

Nobody knows exactly. BambooHR recorded November 19 time-off requests 9% to 17% higher than usual, but warns it cannot attribute all of it to GTA 6.