GTA 6 hype has reached 'unprecedented' levels as one company schedules a temporary 'operational pause' for its release — and I can't tell if it's a joke

• An automotive company will have a company-wide shutdown on November 19, 2026, due to employees taking time off for GTA 6
• Burger Motorsports states its normal services may face delays on GTA 6's launch date
• There are still no signs of a potential delay from Rockstar Games

Rockstar Games has gamers anxiously waiting in anticipation for one of the biggest games of all time, with GTA 6 waiting in the pipeline for a November 19 launch — and one non-gaming company has already made plans ahead of it.

An automotive parts and tuning company, Burger Motorsports, has released an internal notice stating that it will hold a temporary 'company-wide operational pause' on November 19, as several team members won't be available once GTA 6 launches.

It notes that several departments of the company, such as customer support, shipping, social media, and order processing, may experience delays, while all is expected to return to normal seemingly after the launch date, where it has stated 'once employees have completed their initial exploration, finished at least one mission, and returned to reality.'

Frankly, it's difficult to tell whether this is simply a joke with the company playing into the hype of gaming's biggest release in 2026, or if it genuinely intends to effectively push a company-wide shutdown — and if it's the latter, it shouldn't be a big surprise.

(Image credit: Rockstar Games)

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It goes without saying that GTA 6's launch is essentially a world-stopping moment, particularly for game enthusiasts, and it's no surprise that plenty of employees have already set their sights on November 19 as an off day. Regardless of whether this is indeed a joke, it wouldn't be a far-fetch to suggest that other companies could follow suit.

Fortunately, as it stands, GTA 6 is still very much locked in for launch on November 19, with Take-Two Interactive's CEO, Strauss Zelnick, recently reaffirming the date, and rumors from a reliable insider, Nate The Hate, stating the game will arrive in November, unless something 'unexpected and catastrophically' goes wrong.

It's certainly been a very long wait for GTA 6 to arrive, not only stemming from a long 13-year wait after GTA 5's release, but also since GTA 6's official 2022 announcement. We can only hope there aren't any more planned delays at this stage.