GTA 6 Launch Day Sickies: Nearly 900,000 UK Workers May Call in Sick, Uswitch Survey Finds

✅ CONFIRMED — the survey findings below are confirmed as reported by Uswitch and multiple outlets. The headline headcount is Uswitch’s own extrapolation, not a count of real sick notes, and this article labels it as an estimate throughout.

Nearly 900,000 UK workers could call in sick on GTA 6 launch day even though they are not unwell, according to a new Uswitch survey. The broadband comparison site polled 1,000 UK workers who play video games and extrapolated the answers to the wider workforce, landing on 887,515 potential launch-day “sickies” for 19 November 2026.

Quick answer: Uswitch surveyed 1,000 UK workers who play games and found 9% of GTA 6 players may take sick leave on launch day despite not being unwell, which it extrapolates to 887,515 workers. Combined with annual leave, it puts 2.56 million UK workers taking 19 November off, worth an estimated £403.5 million in working time.

Key takeaways

• Uswitch estimates 887,515 UK workers may call in sick on GTA 6 launch day, 19 November 2026, despite not being unwell.
• The estimate comes from 9% of surveyed GTA 6 players saying they may take sick leave, extrapolated from a 1,000-person poll.
• Combined with annual leave, Uswitch puts 2.56 million UK workers taking launch day off in total.
• It values that time at £403.5 million, based on 20.5 million missed working hours at £19.67 an hour.
• More than half of players (54%) plan to change their working schedule for launch day, and 30% of home workers may play during work hours.

What did the Uswitch survey actually find?

Uswitch surveyed 1,000 employed UK adults who play video games through OnePoll between 22 and 29 September 2026, and found that 54% of GTA 6 players plan to change their working schedule on launch day. Within that group, 17% would consider annual leave, 14% may take unpaid leave, and 9% say they may take sick leave despite not being unwell.

The survey also measured the knock-on effects for people who do turn up. Around one in five players (21%) expect to be more tired at work after playing, the same proportion expect to be distracted, 26% expect to spend time discussing the game with colleagues, 17% may change their working hours, and 16% expect to be less productive. Three in ten players who work from home say they may use some of their working time to play.

How does 9% become 887,515 workers?

Uswitch built the headline number from a chain of assumptions: a UK working population of 34.48 million, of whom it says 65% play video games and 44% plan to play GTA 6. Applying the survey’s 9% sick-leave figure to that estimated player base produces 887,515 workers, while the 17% annual-leave figure produces almost 1.68 million.

That chain is why the number must be read as an estimate, not a forecast of real absences. Every link — who counts as a gamer, who will actually play GTA 6, who follows through — is uncertain, and a survey of people who already play games will overstate the workforce as a whole. The honest reading is “up to around 900,000”, not “900,000 will”.

Where does the £403.5 million figure come from?

Uswitch multiplied the estimated absences by an eight-hour working day, giving 20,511,464 potentially missed working hours across annual and sick leave. It then valued those hours at £19.67, the UK full-time median hourly pay, producing approximately £403.5 million of working time — £263.8 million from annual leave and £139.7 million from potential sick leave.

That is a value-of-time calculation, not a cash loss. Annual leave is planned and paid, so counting it alongside unplanned sick leave inflates any “cost” reading. The sick-leave slice alone, £139.7 million, is the figure that matters here — and it rests on the same uncertain extrapolation.

Is this the same as the US $1 billion sick-day claim?

No, and keeping the two stories apart matters. The US figure comes from a separate GameSquare survey of 1,000 full-time American employees, in which 10% planned to skip work, combined with an economist’s estimate of around 1.5 million US sick calls costing roughly $1 billion. We covered that claim, and the pushback against it, in our earlier pieces.

The Uswitch numbers are UK-only, with a different sample and method — £403.5 million of working time versus a claimed $1 billion US productivity loss. The two should not be added together, and neither is a measured outcome: both measure intentions weeks before launch, not absences on the day. See our GTA 6 sick-day $1 billion claim fact-checked and our GameSquare survey: the GTA 6 effect on sport and film for the US side of the story.

What does this mean for launch day itself?

For players, the practical lesson is boring but valuable: book the day off properly rather than gambling on a sick note. Faking illness can breach employment terms, and a planned day off is free of that risk. Uswitch broadband expert Max Beckett put it in practical terms: “GTA VI is one of the biggest gaming releases in years, so for players planning to take time off, the last thing you want is to lose precious gaming time to a slow download, connection problems, or a console that needs updating. Checking your broadband speed, clearing enough storage, and making sure your console and games are fully updated ahead of launch can all help you get straight into the action on release day.”

The timeline helps: GTA 6 pre-loading opens on 12 November, a week before the 19 November 2026 launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. For employers, the survey is less a warning of mass absence than a reminder that the week of 19 November will be a distracted one — and that the honest version of this story is annual leave, not sick notes.

What this means

The Uswitch survey is best read as a cultural barometer, not a workforce forecast. It confirms, with real survey data, that GTA 6 is big enough to rearrange ordinary working weeks in the UK — 54% of players adjusting schedules is a striking intention, whatever the final absence count turns out to be. But the viral headline, “900,000 sickies”, is the weakest link in the chain: a small-sample intention, extrapolated twice, then rounded up for effect.

The stronger story is underneath it. Between the UK survey, the US GameSquare survey and 6.45 million pre-orders tracked by Sensor Tower, GTA 6 is already behaving like a national event three and a half weeks before launch. If even a fraction of the stated intentions become real days off, 19 November will still be one of the quietest working days of the year. Our Take-Two earnings preview for 9 November covers the last checkpoint before release.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• IFA Magazine — The GTA VI sickie (25 October 2026)
• Advanced Television — Survey: thousands to call in ‘sick’ on GTA VI launch day (20 October 2026)
• HotMinute — Nearly 900,000 UK workers expected to pull a sickie for GTA VI (20 October 2026)
• iGaming.org — GTA 6 launch could see nearly 900,000 UK workers call in sick
• RockstarINTEL — GTA 6 has millions of people skipping work on launch day, study finds

Every claim above was verified against at least two independent reports of the Uswitch survey (Advanced Television and HotMinute for the sample, dates and extrapolation base; IFA Magazine for the 25 October republication), with the Max Beckett quote checked verbatim across two outlets. No primary Uswitch press release was directly accessible, so all figures are attributed to Uswitch via those reports rather than presented as independently audited data. The US GameSquare comparison figures are taken from our own earlier, separately sourced coverage.