The future of game-based logistics: a systematic review of applications, functions, and evidence

Game-based approaches are increasingly employed to address complex challenges in logistics and freight transport. While traditionally employed for education and workforce training, they have broader applications and untapped potential. In particular, advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are creating new opportunities to design, personalise, and scale these interventions. Despite this growing interest, a comprehensive understanding of how game-based approaches have evolved, who they target, what functions they serve, and where future opportunities lie remains limited. This study presents a systematic review of 87 studies on game-based interventions in freight transport and logistics, synthesising evidence across five application domains: warehouse operations management, terminal operations management, transport planning and optimisation, reverse logistics, and risk management and resilience. The findings reveal that games are evolving beyond training applications towards behavioural research, decision support, stakeholder engagement, and consumer behaviour change. Target audiences have similarly expanded from students and operational personnel to include managers, planners, consumers, and participants in behavioural research settings. Nevertheless, evidence regarding the long-term effectiveness of these interventions remains scarce, and several logistics challenges remain largely unexplored. Building on evidence-based gaps identified in the literature, this review proposes future research directions and highlights the potential of AI to enable adaptive, personalised, and scalable game-based interventions. By consolidating fragmented knowledge and outlining emerging opportunities, this study provides a foundation for researchers and practitioners seeking to harness game-based approaches to understand and improve logistics and freight transport systems.