The $1 billion US productivity loss figure for November 19 comes from an estimate by economist José García Montalvo, Noovo Info reports.
Sources noovo.info
The figure is everywhere: GTA 6 would cost the United States one billion dollars in productivity on November 19. Noovo Info traced it back, and it does not lead to Washington. The estimate comes from a Spanish economist, interviewed on the radio a year ago.
According to Noovo Info, the calculation is by José García Montalvo of Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, given in an interview on Cadena SER. His starting point: around 1.5 million Americans could take time off for the launch. From that he infers a possible loss of one billion dollars. The Quebec outlet stresses it is an academic estimate, not an official scientific publication.
US media then picked it up as release day approached, often without naming the source. An American TikToker uses it to urge followers on: "Forget your job, take all your days off". His video tops 200,000 views, with thousands of comments in the same vein.
Nothing measured. Noovo says plainly that no official figures exist. The Zety survey, which we covered in our piece on the 11% of workers, gives a stated intention, not a headcount. More on the release date and preload is on our release page.
Read also GTA 6: 11% of workers plan time off for the November 19 launch
Noovo adds an anecdote: US soldiers were reportedly offered four days of special leave to play. The outlet gives no precise source for that detail, so treat it with caution.
The paper recalls that in 2013 GTA V reached one billion dollars in sales in three days. Only time will tell whether that record falls, and how many Americans go to work on November 19.
Nothing for the game, a lot for how to read headlines. A "billion dollars lost" rests on a 1.5 million time-off assumption made by a single academic. If you see the number on launch day, remember it predates any launch. The release date itself stays fixed: November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.
Sources noovo.info
Reported Reported by the press, not confirmed by Rockstar
By Chloé · GTAVIFRANCE newsroom
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