Logi Game Day: Logitech Gives Staff a Day Off to Play GTA VI

The timing is hardly random. GTA VI is due on 19 November, and that same day Logitech G will host a livestreamed event at its US base in San Jose. It will be led by Robin Piispanen, head of Logitech G and a former tournament-level player.

Why would a hardware maker give staff a gaming day?

The business interest is plain. Logitech G sells mice, keyboards, headsets and racing wheels, so the more seriously people take gaming, the better for the company. CEO Hanneke Faber says it is time to drop the idea that gaming is wasted time.

Logitech backs this with its own research. In a study called Ctrl Tomorrow, 81% of gamers said games boost their confidence in the real world, ease anxiety and go with better day-to-day functioning at work. In another survey, 98.8% of IT decision-makers at companies said gaming skills carry over into useful professional ones, such as strategic thinking, solving complex problems and working under pressure.

Treat those numbers with care. They are respondents' opinions, gathered by a company that benefits from promoting gaming. They don't prove that an evening in GTA makes anyone more productive the next day.

The simpler argument comes from Elaine Laird, Logitech's chief people officer. She says people need time to disconnect from work and do something completely different, so they come back more focused, with more energy and a fresher view of problems. No skills claim needed.

What it means

This is good marketing, and Logitech doesn't pretend otherwise. But a day off is still a day off. Gamers now run teams and companies, and the generation that bought GTA V in 2013 as students is in management. After a 13-year wait for a new Grand Theft Auto, plenty of people were going to check their leftover leave anyway. Logitech just got ahead of them.