Here is a sentence I didn't expect to write today: Australia's workplace regulator has weighed in on how to get the day off for GTA 6. The Fair Work Ombudsman, which is a real government body and not a bit, posted a joke-y Instagram guide walking people through their unpaid-leave options for launch day.
It's clearly having fun with it. But the advice underneath is genuine, and it's funnier for being accurate.
What the watchdog actually said
The carousel imagines a worker who has burned through all their paid leave and still wants 19 November off. It then runs through the unpaid entitlements under the National Employment Standards and rules them out one by one. Carer's leave doesn't apply. Parental leave is out, with the deadpan note that a video game isn't a child. Community service leave is for emergency volunteers, so that's gone too.
What's left is the honest answer: the National Employment Standards set no minimum for general unpaid leave. You can ask your employer for unpaid time off for a reason the law doesn't list, and they decide whether to grant it. So your GTA 6 day hinges entirely on how understanding your boss is.
For everyone else
GTA 6 is still set for 19 November on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, with the PC version coming later. If you're not in Australia, the practical route is the same everywhere: book annual leave early, before half your office has the same idea. The Ombudsman's real point, under the gag, is just that there's no magic clause that forces a day off for a game launch, no matter how big.
Sources: Video Games Chronicle and Dexerto, reporting the Fair Work Ombudsman's Instagram post.
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