More vacation applications worldwide before the start of the video game “GTA VI”

Video gamers around the world are preparing for the official launch of the long-awaited game "Grand Theft Auto" (GTA) VI. The human resources software provider Personio said that an above-average number of employees submitted vacation requests for November 19th and the days after.

In Germany the value is 38 percent above average. When it comes to compensating time off for overtime, the increase amounts to 58 percent. Many employees would also take Thursday and Friday of next week off. The days before the “GTA VI” premiere, however, were unremarkable.

Often men from “Generation Z”

Personio's competitor Remote comes to similar results and records a global increase in vacation requests of 32 percent. The change is most noticeable in Italy, where almost twice as many employees are taking time off as usual. This was followed by India (60 percent) and Ireland (57 percent). In the remote survey, Germany did not end up in the top ten with the largest increase in planned vacation days.

Remote said that men from “Generation Z” born around 1995 (plus 120 percent) most often take time off. Within the company, employees from the finance department (plus 104 percent) and marketing (plus 75 percent) are represented above average.

"Grand Theft Auto" is an action video game series with cult status. It's about criminals who steal cars in fictional US cities and work their way up in the underworld. It is being developed by Rockstar Games, a subsidiary of the US game developer Take-Two.

Developer raises sales forecast

The developer is hoping for a growth spurt. A few days ago he raised his sales target for 2026 to between $7.98 and $8.18 billion. Previously, the forecast was between $7.9 and $8.1 billion.

According to estimates, the US company could achieve sales of up to $5.2 billion with “GTA VI” in the premiere week alone. The predecessor "GTA V", launched in 2013, is one of the most successful video games in history with 230 million units sold.

In addition, the online components have ensured Take-Two's continued income in recent years because players have to pay extra for certain functions.

Advance sales records

According to the company, pre-sales for “GTA VI” have already broken all records. For a few days now, buyers have been able to download the software and install it on their devices. This has increased user queries about the Sony PlayStation and Microsoft XBOX game consoles, said the Internet provider United Internet upon request.

“Compared to normal nights, the increase was at times a factor of around ten,” the company said. "We also expect an increased traffic volume around the publication on November 19th. However, we do not expect our network infrastructure to be overloaded - we are well prepared for that."