A study of 1000 UK gamers, by gaming and tech retailer Currys, discovered which upcoming releases gamers will be taking time off to play. One of the most popular 2024 releases that topped the list to book annual leave for is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth.
The PS5 exclusive game, being released at Midnight (GMT) on the 29th of February, is a sequel to Final Fantasy VII Remake which was released in 2020. It is the second in a planned trilogy of games remaking the popular 1997 PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII.
The study found that 41% of gamers have booked time off work in the past to play newly released video games, with 12% of respondents claiming they will be doing the same for this new instalment from Square Enix. Being a Thursday release, we can expect that avid fans of the franchise will take Thursday and Friday off to play.
The majority (55%) of those who take annual leave for a new release will take 1-2 days, but 31% will take up to 5 days off to play a new game. This equates to nearly a fifth of the legal entitlement of 28 days for a full-time worker in the UK.
Other 2024 games we can expect to cause quieter workplaces include Assassin’s Creed Codename Red, with 15% expected to take time off and Star Wars Outlaws (12%).
Gamers make better workers, according to an expert
Despite the negativity gaming sometimes gets in the press and on social media, it seems that gamers could actually be the best workers. In fact, 60% of gamers in the study said taking time off for gaming gave them a boost in productivity when they returned to work.
A substantial 56% said they incorporate gaming “skills” such as leadership, communication, time management and problem solving into their working day. Dr Daniel Wheatley, Reader in Business and Labour Economics based in the Department of Management at the University of Birmingham, said: “It can be challenging to substantiate the skills gained from activities that are engaged in outside of formal education, training and work experience. Nevertheless, as per the saying, ‘every day is a school day’, it is very much the case that we gain skills and experience every day from our activities including those we engage in for leisure.
“Gaming requires several skills including problem-solving, resource and time management, communication, hand-eye coordination and more. This has been recognised by employers in some cases with the ‘gamification’ of training and work tasks present in some industries and organisations. Effectively transferring the skills developed from gaming into a work context and having them recognised by employers remains a key challenge, though, for many gamers and employers would do well to consider how they might achieve this to extract these benefits.”
However, not all gamers are made equal as 38% admitted to playing video games while they should have been working.
Over a quarter of gamers have pulled sickies to play video games
The study also found that 28% of gamers have called in sick just to play video games. Plus 34% admitted they would resort to this if their annual leave around an anticipated game release was denied.
Of these, the biggest culprits are PS5 owners, making up 29% of those that have pulled sickies to play games.
