Grand Theft Auto VI's hotly anticipated launch next week has some businesses bracing for a productivity nightmare, with millions of gamers potentially calling out sick—or sneaking in playtime on the clock. The sequel is developer Rockstar Games' first new Grand Theft Auto installment in more than a decade, arriving after two delays to its release date. Logitech is getting ahead of the curve: the $13 billion technology company, which makes computer peripherals including gaming gear, is giving its 7,000 global employees a day off to play video games.

The initiative, dubbed “Logi Game Day,” gives Logitech employees—from full-time workers to interns—the opportunity to take one day off between now and this time next year to play a game of their choice.

“It’s time to retire the stereotype that gaming is a waste of time,” Logitech chief executive Hanneke Faber said in a statement. “As a company designing products for work and play, we see every day how engagement in one sphere supports performance in the other.”

Faber plans to join in the gaming herself on Nov. 19, though she will still head into the office for the company's streaming event, when the space will be transformed into a full-fledged gaming lounge. The date is no coincidence: it also marks the launch of GTA VI. Employees who prefer a different day can bank the time off until 2027.

“I'm ready for some fun and (friendly) competition,” Faber told Fortune.

Logitech's bet: gaming makes workers more productive

One estimate suggested the U.S. economy could lose as much as $1 billion in productivity as 1.5 million workers potentially skip work for GTA VI's release. But Victor Matheson, an economist at the College of the Holy Cross who studies sports and major events, said even if the figure were accurate, the lost output might not be such a bad thing.

“But even if it were true, it's not necessarily a bad thing if people are happier,” Matheson previously told Fortune. “And it’s pretty tiny in the big picture anyway.”

Logitech is wagering on the opposite: that giving employees dedicated time to play could actually make them more productive. A study released by the company last month, surveying 900 adults and an additional 100 gamers across nine countries, found that 4 in 5 respondents agreed gaming makes them more confident handling real-life challenges and helps them stay calm and focused in high-pressure situations.

“Play is not the opposite of work,” Elaine Laird, Logitech's chief people officer, said in a statement. “When people have dedicated time to log off, decompress and immerse themselves in play, they return with clearer focus, renewed energy and fresh approaches to complex challenges.”

Logitech's executives largely practice what they preach. Laird has a friendly competition with coworkers playing the mobile block puzzle game Block Blast, while chief financial officer Matteo Anversa plans to take his game day off to play Forza on a simulation racing rig.

Still, GTA VI is likely to be the main attraction when it launches. The game is expected to be one of the biggest entertainment releases of the year, with nearly 8 million copies already estimated to have been sold. For scale: its predecessor, Grand Theft Auto V, has sold more than 200 million copies since its 2013 release, making it one of the best-selling video games of all time.

“If employees choose to spend their Gaming Time Off exploring Vice City on launch day, you won’t hear any complaints from us,” a Logitech spokesperson told Fortune.

GTA VI's commercial momentum is already showing up in its publisher's results. Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar Games' parent company, increased its fiscal year 2027 outlook to an estimated $8.2 billion in net bookings, according to its quarterly earnings report released Monday. For comparison, the company achieved $5.65 billion in net bookings for fiscal year 2025.

GTA VI fever spreads: PTO requests spike and the Army courts reenlistments

Logitech isn't the only organization leaning into the GTA VI hype. A U.S. Army unit in Georgia went viral earlier this year for offering active-duty soldiers a four-day pass to play the game as an incentive to reenlist.

“The idea was to have a unique incentive program that connects to what soldiers are interested in,” Lt. Col. Angel Tomko, spokesperson for the 3rd Infantry Division, said in a statement to Fortune earlier this year. At the time, nearly two dozen soldiers had already signed up for the offer.

Data from BambooHR shows that PTO requests for GTA VI's release date are nearly 13% higher than on comparable days in previous years. The HR software company's own survey found that 18% of salaried workers said they plan to take the day off for the launch.

Not everyone is planning to file requests ahead of time, however. Half of gamers who plan to take time off for an upcoming game release said they intend to call in sick rather than schedule PTO in advance—a potential headache for employers hoping to keep their teams fully staffed at the end of next week.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com.