RE_PLAY Game Design Master's 2027 — Erasmus Mundus
Fully funded Master scholarship in Portugal for All international students students 2027
Two-year game design master's in Lisbon, Genk and Helsinki, with full tuition and EUR 1,400 a month for scholars. The 2027 intake closes 8 January 2027.
Eligibility
- Bachelor's or master's degree at EQF level 6 or above, in game studies or a related field
- Degrees in other fields accepted with relevant academic or professional games experience
- English language proficiency as set out on the admissions page
- Diploma legalised or apostilled for international use, with certified translation if not in English
- Post-mortem of up to two games or projects you worked on
- Motivation letter of no more than 3,000 characters
- Open to candidates of all nationalities
Game design master's programmes usually teach one studio culture. REPLAY moves you through three, in three countries, in four semesters — Lisbon, then Genk, then Helsinki — and the fourth intake is open for applications from 7 October 2026 to 8 January 2027.
The case for studying games in three countries is not travel. It is that the European industry is genuinely fragmented: Portuguese studios work small and experimental, Belgian programmes sit inside a school of arts with a strong fine-art tradition, and Finland has the studio ecosystem that produced both commercial hits and a serious serious-games sector. A designer who has shipped inside only one of those systems tends to reproduce it.
What it covers
REPLAY is a two-year European joint master in game design, run by Universidade Lusófona in Lisbon, LUCA School of Arts in Genk and Aalto University in Helsinki. The curriculum is built around designing, experimenting and developing games rather than around games criticism, so the output is playable work plus the documentation that explains why it works.
The intake is deliberately small: a maximum of 24 students per year. That number changes the economics of applying. With a cohort that size, the consortium can read every portfolio properly, and the difference between a good application and a successful one is usually the quality of the post-mortem you attach rather than the number of degrees you hold.
The scholarship is a full one. An Erasmus Mundus award covers 100 per cent of the EUR 15,000 tuition for the four semesters and adds a EUR 1,400 monthly allowance for up to 24 months, which is intended to cover installation, travel and living costs. Only a percentage of the 24 places carry a scholarship, so self-funded admission is a real route, but at EUR 15,000 for the whole degree it is one of the cheaper two-year studio programmes in Europe.
Who can apply
The programme is open to candidates of all nationalities. You need a bachelor's or master's degree — the diploma must sit at least at European Qualifications Framework level 6 — in game studies, or in another field provided you can show relevant academic or professional experience in game design, game art, game programming, game sound or game production.
English proficiency is required and is checked through the documents listed on the admissions page. If your diploma is not in English you need a certified translation carrying the university stamp, and depending on the country of issue the document may also need an apostille or legalisation. That last step is the one that costs applicants weeks, so start it before you write anything else.
Self-check before you build the file. Do I have at least two finished projects I can dissect honestly, including what failed? Can I show a role on each — design, art, code, sound, production — rather than "I helped"? Is my diploma legalised for international use, or will it be in three weeks? Can I name the three cities and say what I want from each? And can I evidence English proficiency with a test or a degree taught in English?
The deadline
Applications opened on 7 October 2026 and close on 8 January 2027. That single date governs scholarship consideration: everyone who applies within the window is ranked for funding, and there is no separate scholarship form.
Because the window is roughly three months and the cohort is 24, the practical advice is to apply in November rather than the first week of January. Reviewers read in batches, portfolios are compared within batches, and a file that arrives after the holiday break is competing against a full pool rather than a forming one.
How to apply
Applications go through the online form linked from the admissions page. The required set is: passport or EU identity card valid through August 2029, a recent headshot, diploma and transcripts with certified translation and legalisation where needed, a CV structured around games work, a motivation letter of no more than 3,000 characters, a post-mortem of up to two games or projects you worked on, and English proficiency evidence.
The post-mortem is the piece applicants underestimate. It is not a description of the game. It is an account of what you intended, what the build actually did, what you cut and why. Two honest pages about a small student project beat a polished trailer for something you did not design.
https://www.replaymasters.eu/admissions-and-requirements.html
Tips to win
Choose projects that show range without pretending to mastery. A solo prototype that demonstrates a systems idea, plus a team project where you can describe the friction, reads better than three similar jam games. The consortium is selecting people who can work in a studio across languages, so evidence of collaboration matters as much as technical skill.
Write the motivation letter as three short arguments, one per city. Say what you want from Lisbon's experimental scene, from LUCA's art-school context, and from Aalto's studio culture, and connect each to a project you have already made. A letter that could be sent to any games master's is the most common reason a strong portfolio stalls.
Common mistakes
Submitting an unlegalised diploma and hoping. Attaching a post-mortem that is really a feature list. Writing a motivation letter over the 3,000-character cap. Sending a portfolio link that requires a login, or a build that no longer runs. And applying on 8 January with a file that has never been read by anyone else — one outside reader catches most of what a reviewer would.
The programme is aimed at people who intend to work in studios, as designers, technical artists or producers, rather than at applicants who want to write about games. If your portfolio is playable, the January date is the one to plan around.
https://www.replaymasters.eu/admissions-and-requirements.html
Other scholarships worth comparing on OEAC Network: https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=86 https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=26 https://www.oeacnetwork.com/index.php?page=post&id=18
An OEAC advisor can check your documents and your statement against the programme's own requirements before you submit. Book a free review with the advisory team.
Last updated: 28 October 2026. Source: https://www.replaymasters.eu/
Always confirm the deadline and eligibility on the official page before you apply. Scholarship dates change between rounds, and this listing is a summary — the provider's own page is the authoritative source. OEAC Network lists scholarships for free and is not an agent for any university or funding body.
