Aussies Skip Work for GTA 6: Sick Leave Spike Expected Nov. 19
Australian employers are preparing for a jump in sick leave around the November 19, 2026 release of Grand Theft Auto VI. Workforce software firm Deputy expects absenteeism about 90 per cent above average, and NBN Co is bracing for heavy network traffic.
Australian workplaces are bracing for a spike in sick leave around the release of Grand Theft Auto VI on Thursday, November 19, 2026, as some Aussies skip work for GTA. Workforce software company Deputy says the launch could push absenteeism about 90 per cent above average.
The game is digital-only, and Australia's National Broadband Network is preparing for heavy traffic too.
Sydney healthcare worker Josh has booked two weeks of leave around the launch. He says he is "not ashamed" that he will spend "the majority of it" playing.
His colleagues know. Some, he said, have told him "they're jealous that they didn't think to do the same – I think a few others think it's ridiculous".
A friend of Josh's has taken one week off. Other friends have not said whether they will skip work, but Josh "would be surprised if they didn't pull a sickie".
What Deputy found
Deputy makes workforce management software and is based in Australia. It analyzed absenteeism data from three recent major game launches: Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring and Overwatch 2.
The firm found mid-week releases can "trigger massive [sickie] spikes". Absenteeism nearly doubled around the public release of Overwatch 2 in August 2023. Deputy also found women consistently work more hours on the launch days of major video games.
Deputy's chief technology officer, Ciaran Hale, said absences tend to peak the day before a launch. Workers want to pre-download the huge game files so they can play at once.
"Shift workers clear their schedules 24 hours before a game releases so they can play the second the servers open," Hale said. He expects "a major, multi-day scheduling crunch across the frontline workforce".
Industry saw it coming
Strauss Zelnick, chief executive of Take-Two Interactive, suggested in April that "a lot of people will be calling in sick on November 19". Take-Two owns Rockstar Games, the maker of GTA.
Australians will be among the first to play on Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox consoles. Both companies have confirmed the game is already the most pre-ordered title in their histories.
GTA VI arrives 13 years after Grand Theft Auto V and after two lengthy delays. Rockstar announced in May 2025 that a late-2025 release would move to May 2026, and the game was later delayed again until November 2026.
Josh had booked two weeks of leave for May. "Luckily I had enough leave to book two weeks in November, too," he said.
Pressure on the network
The digital-only release "could result in a record-breaking traffic month" for the NBN, an NBN Co spokesperson said. Players who pre-ordered could begin pre-downloading the game's more than 200 gigabytes of data earlier this week.
That brought "an uptick in network use" of around 3 terabits per second on Tuesday, November 10, the spokesperson said. It was above the average for that time of day but "still well below the usual daily peak".
Josh says he feels "a responsibility to get some kind of chores and work around the apartment done" while his wife is at work. "I still have a wife and a cat that I enjoy being around just as much as I'll enjoy being around GTA," he said.
