Analysts: The release of GTA VI could cost the U.S. economy a billion dollars due to widespread absenteeism

Publications have started to appear in the mass media that negatively evaluate the upcoming release of GTA VI from a macroeconomic perspective. They indicate that the game's arrival on the market will negatively affect labor productivity.

The original source of these speculations is a publication in the online edition eloutput. It refers to calculations by José García Montalvo, a professor at Harvard and Pompeu Universities.

According to these calculations, the U.S. economy will lose approximately a billion dollars because thousands of Americans (primarily young people aged 18 to 30) will skip school and work following the release. In the short term, labor productivity in the region will drop by 2%.

Moreover, in connection with this publication, there has been a tendency to refer to calculations claiming that in 2013, during the release of GTA V, 6% of young professionals in major U.S. cities took a day off. However, an important nuance is that the origin of these calculations is unknown. The only available data comes from an IGN study. Thirteen years ago, the publication surveyed 11,000 of its readers, and 46% stated that they would take a day off for the release.

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