Palworld devs get 5 days off to play GTA 6

We're now one week away from the launch of GTA 6, and Palworld studio Pocketpair has announced that it'll be giving devs excited to play Rockstar's game the time off to do so, because "we believe that such a historic occasion deserves our full attention."

I don't know about you, but I suspect that November 19 may see a lot of people around the world calling in sick to their jobs thanks to a sudden bout of illness that's going to take them until at least after the weekend to recover from. Pocketpair might be anticipating that itself, as a staff notice also shared on Twitter confirms that they'll all be able to "undertake a business trip to Vice City," if they please.

"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," the notice starts. "At Pocketpair, we believe that such a historic occasion deserves our full attention.

"Therefore," it continues, "after careful consideration, we have decided that all employees who intend to play Grand Theft Auto VI will be granted a special five-day holiday." That period, of course, runs from November 19 to November 23, during which "employees will be excused from their regular duties and are instead encouraged to undertake a business trip to Vice City. We hope everyone enjoys their time away from the office and returns safely from their travels."

I genuinely thought that this was a joke post at first, but separate tweets from Pocketpair CEO Takuro Mizobe and head of publishing John "Bucky" Buckley indicate otherwise. Mizobe says (via machine translation) that he'll be taking time off to play GTA 6 himself, while Bucky admits that "things might be a bit quiet" while the team is busy playing Rockstar's new title.

Bucky previously joked that Slay the Spire 2's release had delayed Palworld's 1.0 launch by "at least a whole day" after Mizobe got a telling off for staying up all night to play it, and I'd imagine the company might want to avoid a similar situation here. Better than having everyone in the office getting no work done, right?

Pocketpair wants to make it clear that the GTA 6 holiday won't affect any of its schedules, though: "Please note that update work for Palworld and Craftopia is proceeding smoothly and is expected to be carried out as scheduled," it adds. Let the devs have their fun, basically.

If you're also planning to play Rockstar's big blockbuster, be sure to take a look at our recommendations for the best controllers and headsets to play GTA 6.