FOI reference: FOI-2026-3735
You asked
I wish to make an FOIA request. There is a lot of talk of Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6 potentially impacting the economy and productivity. Given that the release of a GTA game is somewhat considered a cultural and social phenomenon I would imagine it could be of interest to the ONS to gather official data around this and could help the government and businesses consider future impact (if any) when a GTA game is released.
Does the ONS intend to conduct a study on the impact of the GTA6 release?
If so what would the timeline be?
We said
Thank you for your request.
As part of our business surveys, including the Monthly Business Survey and Retail Sales Inquiry, we ask businesses to provide their monthly turnover figures. Any turnover relating to Grand Theft Auto (GTA) 6 would be included within the relevant business's total return for the month.
We do not ask businesses to split their sales by individual products. However, businesses can provide additional information to explain changes in their monthly returns. As part of our data validation processes, the ONS may also contact businesses to understand the reasons behind their responses.
This means we may be able to identify whether the release of GTA 6 has contributed to changes in monthly turnover for retailers and game developers. However, for confidentiality and disclosure-control reasons, we would not be able to provide information on the impact at an individual business level including the release of new products such as GTA 6.
We will not complete a separate study on the impact of GTA 6. The relevant industry classifications will mean that our Retail Sales and Index of Services (IoS) publications may see impacts at an aggregated level. Scheduled dates for these publications can be found on the ONS Release Calendar.