Grand Theft Auto VI’s highly-anticipated launch subsequent week has some companies bracing for a productivity nightmare, with thousands and thousands of avid gamers doubtlessly calling out sick—or sneaking in playtime on the clock. Logitech, nevertheless, is getting forward of the curve: The $13 billion tech big is giving its 7,000 international workers a time off to play video video games.
Dubbed “Logi Sport Day,” the brand new initiative provides Logitech workers, from full-time employees to interns, the chance to take in the future off from now till this time subsequent 12 months to play a sport of their selection.
“It’s time to retire the stereotype that gaming is a waste of time,” Hanneke Faber, Logitech’s chief government officer, mentioned in a press release. “As an organization designing merchandise for work and play, we see every single day how engagement in a single sphere helps efficiency within the different. ”
Faber plans to hitch in on the gaming on Nov. 19 herself, however she’ll nonetheless head into the workplace to hitch the corporate’s streaming occasion, when the house might be reworked right into a full-fledged gaming lounge. The date isn’t any coincidence: It additionally marks the launch of GTA VI. However employees can save the time off till 2027 if they need.
“I’m prepared for some enjoyable and (pleasant) competitors,” she informed Fortune.
Logitech says taking part in video video games like GTA 6 could make employees extra productive
One estimate suggested that the U.S. economic system may lose as a lot as $1 billion in productiveness as 1.5 million employees doubtlessly skip work for GTA VI’s release. However in keeping with Victor Matheson, an economist on the Faculty of the Holy Cross who research sports activities and main occasions, even when the determine have been correct, the misplaced productiveness won’t be such a foul factor.
“However even when it have been true, it’s not essentially a foul factor if individuals are happier,” Matheson previously told Fortune. “And it’s fairly tiny within the large image anyway.”
As a substitute, Logitech is betting that giving workers devoted time to play may really make them extra productive.
A study released by Logitech final month, surveying 900 adults and a further 100 avid gamers throughout 9 international locations, discovered that 4 in 5 respondents agreed gaming makes them extra assured dealing with real-life challenges and helps them keep calm and targeted in high-pressure conditions.
“Play isn’t the alternative of labor,” Elaine Laird, Logitech’s chief individuals officer, mentioned in a press release. “When individuals have devoted time to log out, decompress and immerse themselves in play, they return with clearer focus, renewed power and recent approaches to complicated challenges.”
Logitech’s executives largely apply what they train. Laird has a pleasant competitors with coworkers taking part in the cellular block puzzle sport Block Blast, whereas chief monetary officer Matteo Anversa plans to take his sport time off to play Forza on a simulation racing rig.
Nonetheless, GTA VI is more likely to be the primary attraction when it launches. The sport is predicted to be one of many greatest leisure releases of the 12 months, with almost 8 million copies already estimated to have been offered.
“If workers select to spend their Gaming Time Off exploring Vice Metropolis on launch day, you gained’t hear any complaints from us,” a Logitech spokesperson added to Fortune.
GTA VI’s writer, Take-Two Interactive, elevated its fiscal 12 months 2027 outlook to an estimated $8.2 billion in internet bookings, in keeping with its quarterly earnings report launched Monday. For comparability, the corporate achieved $5.65 billion in internet bookings for fiscal 12 months 2025.
GTA VI fever is spreading: Staff are reserving PTO, and the Military is utilizing the sport to lure troopers into reenlisting
Logitech isn’t the one group profiting from the GTA VI hype.
A U.S. Military unit in Georgia went viral earlier this 12 months for providing active-duty troopers a four-day go to play the sport as an incentive to reenlist.
“The concept was to have a singular incentive program that connects to what troopers are excited by,” Lt. Col. Angel Tomko, spokesperson for the third Infantry Division, mentioned in a press release to Fortune earlier this 12 months. On the time, almost two dozen troopers had already signed up for the supply.
Data from BambooHR reveals that PTO requests for GTA VI’s launch date are almost 13% greater than on comparable days in earlier years. The corporate’s personal survey discovered that 18% of salaried employees mentioned they plan to take the time off for the launch.
However not everyone seems to be planning to place of their requests forward of time. Half of avid gamers who plan to take day off for an upcoming sport launch mentioned they intend to name in sick fairly than schedule PTO prematurely—a possible headache for employers hoping to maintain their groups absolutely staffed on the finish of subsequent week.