Bud Burruss plans five PTO days for Grand Theft Auto VI

Atlanta software engineer Bud Burruss has saved five days of paid time off to play Grand Theft Auto VI when it releases next month, NPR host Ayesha Rascoe reported.

By Tom Whitfield

Rascoe called GTA VI the release video gamers had waited 13 years for and Grand Theft Auto one of the biggest game franchises in history. An audio excerpt presented Jason Duval explaining that he had left the Army on bad terms and that people like him do not receive loans.

NPR's segment did not provide a calendar date, price, platform list or independent review. Burruss, whom Rascoe introduced as a superfan, has mapped his leave to the Thursday before Thanksgiving.

Burruss said his wife is a stay-at-home mother and they have three sons. His five-day leave replaces a routine built around their family time:

• Wednesday, 5 p.m.: He finishes a normal workday.
• Until about 8:30 p.m.: The family occupies the evening; the boys then go to bed.
• After bedtime: He goes downstairs once his wife and children are asleep.
• Or 2 or 3 a.m.: He wakes to play until work begins.

Burruss described the routine as effectively staying awake. He said GTA VI would leave him no time for his job unless he took leave, and worried that playing after work would make him a terrible husband and father.

He also rejected the idea that taking leave for a hobby requires justification. Burruss said: “I saved my PTO days. I planned ahead. I've been a top performer in my office for years now, and I don't feel the least bit guilty using the time off that I earned.”

His statement explains the personal decision but does not describe his employer's staffing plan. Nor did Burruss say how his absence would affect colleagues or whether other employees at his office planned to join him.

What does the release change for workers and employers?

Rascoe said she had heard that the U.S. Army was giving some people time off to play GTA VI. Burruss endorsed that report as real but supplied no Army policy, employee numbers or schedule. He said games bring together hourly restaurant workers and corporate executives, people who might otherwise present themselves as above taking time for a game.

NPR presented no employer survey or policy document to verify the Army arrangement. Burruss expected visible workplace absences on release Thursday or Friday, including workers who would say they were too sick to work.

Burruss put a number on the effect and said: “the economic impact will be measured in billions on lost productivity.” NPR supplied no independent estimate, workforce study or economic analysis. The forecast remains an assertion, not a measured effect.

Burruss argued that no one should have to justify taking time to do something they love. He compared the leave with his father's two-week trip to Scotland to play St. Andrews with Scottish friends. Unlike that trip, his plan requires no international flight and no spending abroad.

He said he would sit in his basement holding a PlayStation controller, with a minimal negative economic impact. The comparison covers his own travel and spending, but not lost work, employer costs or consumer activity. Burruss offered no calculation for those wider effects.

Rascoe asked what makes the game worth missing work. Burruss did not argue from narrative, mechanics or social obligation. He said that fun is what gets people playing, that there is only so much sightseeing to do in a game, and that Grand Theft Auto has historically been a lot of fun.

His answer identifies enjoyment as the motive. It offers no review, player survey or comparison with other releases, so it cannot establish the scale of demand for this installment.

For workers, the practical change is concrete but limited: one Atlanta engineer has saved five paid days for release play. For employers, release Thursday and Friday will show whether similar requests become absences, but any claim of billions in lost productivity needs workforce evidence before it can carry weight.