MORE than 30 staff working on the world’s most profitable video-game franchise have been sacked in a union-busting move at its Edinburgh base, the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) has said.

IWGB says that all of the workers fired by Rockstar Games — developers of Grand Theft Auto  — on October 30 were members of the union and of a chat group on the Discord app.

“The IWGB, which sees this as a brazen act of illegal union busting, says it will be mounting a full and robust defence of its members, who it believes have been targeted unfairly for exercising their legal rights,” the union said in a statement.

The fifth instalment in the Grand Theft Auto series has generated more than £6 billion in revenue since 2013.

IWGB game workers union branch chair Spring McParlin-Jones said: “Next year Grand Theft Auto VI is expected to make upwards of $10bn [£7.6bn]. That’s enough to end world hunger for a year.

“Such a flagrant attack on workers’ rights from such a valuable studio sends a very clear and shocking message to the world: that money matters more than people.”

Rockstar Games is a subsidiary of Take Two Interactive, whose head of global corporate communications Alan Lewis said: “We strive to make the world’s best entertainment properties by giving our best-in-class creative teams positive work environments and ongoing career opportunities.

“Our culture is focused on teamwork, excellence and kindness.

“Rockstar Games terminated a small number of individuals for gross misconduct and for no other reason. As always, we fully support Rockstar’s ambitions and approach.”