Ludolio and OpenAthens Make Digital Game Lending Easier for Libraries

Libraries can now provide seamless access to commercial video games through institutional single sign-on.

Ludolio, the world's first platform for library lending of commercial digital games, has joined the OpenAthens Federation. The integration enables university and school libraries to provide seamless access to commercial video games through institutional single sign-on, making digital game lending easier, more secure and more accessible for students and educators.

Developed by researchers and educators from the University of Sydney's Sydney Games and Play Lab, Ludolio is the world's first platform designed specifically for library lending of commercial digital games. More than 1,000 students are already using Ludolio across leading institutions like the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne, with Stanford University and the University of Utah among the first universities adopting the platform internationally.

Learn more about How Ludolio Works.

By joining OpenAthens, Ludolio enables libraries to offer students and staff seamless access to creative, artistic and educationally relevant games using familiar institutional credentials. Students can play games through Ludolio wherever they are, without requiring consumer gaming accounts or making personal purchases.

Why Digital Game Lending Matters for Education

Libraries have long provided access to books and film. Yet despite the growing importance of games as cultural, creative and scholarly media, there has never been equivalent infrastructure for lending commercial digital games. Ludolio was created to solve that problem.

As games have become one of the world's largest cultural industries, they are increasingly being studied across disciplines including education, digital cultures, media studies, design, engineering, and the humanities. They are also being used to support student wellbeing, creativity and community engagement. Despite this growing importance, institutions have historically faced significant legal, technical and administrative barriers when trying to provide equitable access to games.

Ludolio's growing catalogue reflects the breadth of ways games can support teaching, advance research and foster student engagement. Students studying engineering and systems thinking can explore Mars First Logistics, a physics-driven game about designing and operating vehicles on Mars. Humanities and cultural studies students can engage with Queer Man Peering Into A Rock Pool.jpg, an acclaimed Australian game that uses play, photography and personal storytelling to explore queer identity and memory. Students interested in game-based storytelling can experience Wayward Strand, the award-winning Australian game set aboard a flying hospital, which has been celebrated for its innovative storytelling and rich character relationships.

"Games are one of the defining cultural forms of the twenty-first century, but libraries have lacked practical ways to provide access to them," said Professor Marcus Carter, Chief Executive Officer of Ludolio.

"Joining OpenAthens allows libraries to integrate game collections into their existing digital services in a way that is secure, scalable and familiar. Students can log in with the same credentials they already use to access journals, ebooks and databases, while librarians can offer an entirely new category of collection."

Ludolio is built for libraries

Unlike consumer game storefronts, Ludolio was built specifically for educational institutions. The platform builds on years of research into games, education, accessibility and digital platforms, and was co-designed with librarians, teachers, ICT teams and game developers. Privacy, accessibility and institutional requirements have been central to the platform from the beginning.

Learn more about the research origins of Ludolio here - https://www.ludolio.com/ludolio-story

Associate Professor Jen Scott Curwood, Chief Learning Officer of Ludolio, said libraries have a critical role to play in ensuring students can access games as cultural texts.

"If you're studying literature, libraries provide access to books. If you're studying film, they offer access to films. Games deserve the same place in our collections. They are creative works and cultural artefacts that have a valuable place in the curriculum, and students deserve opportunities to experience them directly."

Digital game lending also addresses a significant equity challenge in higher education. Students enrolled in courses that use commercial games are often expected to purchase titles themselves, creating financial barriers to participation. Ludolio enables libraries to provide equitable access to games through institutional collections, ensuring all students can engage with required learning resources regardless of personal circumstances.

The platform also supports game developers by creating a sustainable educational market for creative, artistic and educationally relevant games that might otherwise struggle to find viable commercial distribution channels.

Dan Mayers, head of product at OpenAthens said:

"Having spent part of my career creating digital games, I've seen first-hand the power games have to engage, inspire and educate. OpenAthens exists to remove barriers to knowledge, and this partnership with Ludolio extends that commitment to an emerging and increasingly important category of learning resources. Libraries play a vital role in ensuring equitable access, and we're excited to help make commercial games more accessible to students through seamless and secure institutional access."

Through OpenAthens, a leader in authentication with over years' experience enabling seamless access to digital resources, libraries can now provide secure, remote access to curated collections of commercial games using the same trusted authentication infrastructure they already rely on for other digital resources.

Learn more about digital game lending for libraries at www.ludolio.com.