Ahead of GTA VI’s release, Logitech is giving 7,000 employees the day off to play video games—and its CEO says it’ll boost productivity

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“It’s time to retire the stereotype that gaming is a waste of time,” says $13 billion Logitech CEO Hanneke Faber.

Grand Theft Auto VI’s highly-anticipated launch next week has some businesses bracing for a productivity nightmare, with millions of gamers potentially calling out sick—or sneaking in playtime on the clock. Logitech, however, is getting ahead of the curve: The $13 billion tech giant is giving its 7,000 global employees a day off to play video games.

Dubbed “Logi Game Day,” the new initiative gives Logitech employees, from full-time workers to interns, the opportunity to take one day off from now until this time next year to play a game of their choice.

“It’s time to retire the stereotype that gaming is a waste of time,” Hanneke Faber, Logitech’s chief executive officer, said in a statement. “As a company designing products for work and play, we see every day how engagement in one sphere supports performance in the other. ”

Faber plans to join in on the gaming on Nov. 19 herself, but she’ll still head into the office to join the company’s streaming event, when the space will be transformed into a full-fledged gaming lounge. The date is no coincidence: It also marks the launch of GTA VI. But workers can save the day off until 2027 if they want.

“I’m ready for some fun and (friendly) competition,” she told Fortune.

One estimate suggested that the U.S. economy could lose as much as $1 billion in productivity as 1.5 million workers potentially skip work for GTA VI’s release. But according to Victor Matheson, an economist at the College of the Holy Cross who studies sports and major events, even if the figure were accurate, the lost productivity might not be such a bad thing.

“But even if it were true, it’s not necessarily a bad thing if people are happier,” Matheson previously told Fortune. “And it’s pretty tiny in the big picture anyway.”

Instead, Logitech is betting that giving employees dedicated time to play could actually make them more productive.

A study released by Logitech last month, surveying 900 adults and an additional 100 gamers across nine countries, found that 4…

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