REPLAY is an Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in game design run by three European schools: Universidade Lusófona in Lisbon, LUCA School of Arts in Genk, and Aalto University in Espoo, in the Helsinki area. The REPLAY consortium awards successful students a joint degree diploma, including diploma supplements; the master runs 120 ECTS over four semesters and is taught entirely in English.
Mobility is built in and fixed. The whole cohort studies in Lisbon for semester one, moves together to Genk for semester two, then to Aalto for semester three; for the fourth semester each student picks one of the three schools, or an official partner organisation in another country, and writes a 30-ECTS thesis there.
Each partner lists the programme under its own title: Lusófona as the Erasmus Mundus Master in Videogames, LUCA as the Erasmus Mundus Master in Game Design. Lusófona points graduates towards game design, level design, creative direction, production, analytics and marketing, as well as playable media and XR work.
Benefits & funding
- Erasmus Mundus scholarships are awarded to selected candidates on the basis of excellence.
- Under the EU rules the scholarship covers the participation costs and contributes to travel, visa, installation and subsistence costs.
- The EU calculates it at €1,400 a month for the whole length of the master, which is 24 months here.
- Students without a scholarship pay €15,000 in tuition for the full four-semester study period.
- The first year is studio-heavy: Experimental Play Lab (12 ECTS), Play in Context (12 ECTS), Design Sprint I and II (9 ECTS each), Speculative Design (6 ECTS), Critical Play (6 ECTS).
- The Aalto year adds Learning with Game Industry Professionals (15 ECTS), the Games Now! community course (6 ECTS), a Game Project Seminar (6 ECTS) and a Game Jam (3 ECTS).
- The degree closes with a 30-ECTS thesis, supervised at the school the student chooses.
- Total workload is 120 ECTS over two years, culminating in a joint degree diploma awarded by the REPLAY consortium.
Eligibility
- A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Game Studies.
- A Bachelor's or Master's degree in another field may also be considered when the applicant has relevant prior academic or professional experience in games.
- Lusófona describes the target applicant as a graduate in video games, animation, computer engineering, multimedia or a related area.
- Working in teams on challenging, speculative projects is part of the stated profile.
- Open to European and non-European students, with no nationality or residency bar.
- All teaching is in English.
Can you apply?
Here's who can apply
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Education required
Bachelor
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Application process
- 1Start on the admissions and requirements page of the programme site, which all three partners name as the official source for requirements and documents.
- 2Apply within the current window: 7 October 2026 to 8 January 2027, for the intake starting in September 2027.
- 3Apply once for the consortium — Aalto and LUCA both send applicants to the programme site instead of their own admission systems.
- 4Expect the scholarship to be settled inside the same selection round, since it is awarded on excellence rather than through a separate form.
- 5Submit the online application form through the Lusófona Erasmus Mundus portal (mundus.ulusofona.pt) before the deadline.
Program timeline
15 October 2025
Applications opened for the 2026 intake
9 January 2026
Application deadline for the 2026 intake
7 October 2026
Applications opened for the 2027 intake
8 January 2027
Application deadline for the 2027 intake