Palworld Dev Pocketpair Gives Staff Time Off for GTA 6 Launch Day Trip to Vice City

Pocketpair, the studio behind Palworld, has granted all of its employees special leave around Grand Theft Auto 6's November 19 launch, framing the break as a five-day business trip to Vice City. Updates for Palworld and Craftopia will continue on schedule, and the studio is far from the only employer making room for the game.

Pocketpair announced on X that all of its employees "have been granted special leave to attend to an urgent five-day business trip in Vice City when GTA 6 launches." An attached notice lays out the details.

The memo leans into the occasion. "On November 19, millions of gamers around the world will find themselves sitting at school or work, gazing longingly out the window, knowing that a new era of gaming is about to begin," Pocketpair wrote. "At Pocketpair, we believe such a historic occasion deserves our full attention."

Who gets the time off

From November 19 to November 23, "all employees who intend to play Grand Theft Auto 6" will be "excused from their regular duties and are instead encouraged to undertake a business trip to Vice City." The window includes a weekend, so the actual number of lost working days is closer to three than five.

The studio also stressed that development is not pausing. Work on updates for Palworld and Craftopia is "expected to be carried out as scheduled."

Other companies are doing the same

Pocketpair is part of a small wave of employers clearing calendars for launch day:

• Logitech introduced Logi Game Day, giving its 7,000 employees a day off to "formally" recognize "the cognitive and professional benefits of gaming." The company picked November 19 for it. Robin Piispanen, general manager of the Logitech G gaming brand, said employees can play whatever game they like, not only GTA 6.
• Burger Motorsports, a California-based maker of automotive performance parts, said on Instagram that it will observe "a temporary company-wide operational pause" on launch day, having determined that "normal business operations may be impacted."
• Edison Motors, a Canadian truck manufacturer, is giving its employees a four-day weekend starting November 19.

What about PC players?

All of this applies to console players. Rockstar has not said when a PC version of GTA 6 will arrive, so anyone waiting on that platform has no launch day to book off yet.