Estimate puts GTA VI launch-day US productivity loss at $1 billion

GTABoom has picked up an estimate, cited by International Business Times, that the United States could lose at least $1 billion in productivity on the day Grand Theft Auto VI launches. The site gives the release date as November 19. The figure comes from multiplying absent workers by an average day's output, and the site points to the so-called "GTA flu" of sick days taken by people who aren't actually ill.

The piece argues the number is less absurd than it sounds. It cites a business closing for launch day, an Australian government infographic riffing on the release, and rival publishers reportedly steering clear of November. GTABoom also concedes that productivity-loss figures for big cultural events rest on assumptions that are "easy to inflate and hard to check." Its point is that the trend is real even if the dollar amount isn't.

The full piece is on GTABoom.