# 911 Operator

> ResidualPlay case file: an overlooked Steam game still earning residual revenue. Estimates carry a ±30-50% error range per title.

- Steam appid: 503560
- Developer: Jutsu Games
- Publisher: Games Operators
- Released: 2017 · Genre: Casual · List price: $14.99
- Deal grade: B (A = dormant with >=$5k/mo opportunity, D = low signal)
- Est. net residual revenue: $2.4k to $3.5k per month (mid $2.9k)
- Opportunity score: $4.4k/month at x1.50 dormancy multiplier
- Est. lifetime owners: 792.1k · Est. lifetime net revenue: $2.6M
- Review sentiment: 89% positive across 19759 reviews (14402 from Steam purchases)
- Review velocity: 36.5 reviews/month (6-month average)

## Why it's flagged

- Developer active, last post 1 months ago
- Studio active elsewhere (4 titles tracked), so this one may welcome a partner
- Last build shipped 4.9 years ago
- Last discounted 0 months ago, 12 sales in the last 12 months
- Proven demand elasticity: x1.4 review velocity during past deep sales

## Where a gross dollar goes (monthly, at current velocity)

| Stage | USD/month |
|---|---|
| Gross storefront sales | $5.3k |
| After VAT / sales tax (-13% blended) | $4.6k |
| After refunds (-9.5% median) | $4.2k |
| Net to developer (after Steam 30%) | $2.9k |

## Monthly review counts, oldest to newest (24 months)

87, 48, 47, 47, 56, 65, 38, 46, 48, 44, 59, 83, 54, 55, 54, 53, 43, 52, 33, 48, 31, 24, 47, 36

## Estimated acquisition range

$70.6k to $141.1k (2-4x the trailing net annuity of $35.3k/year). Same error range applies.

## Analyst notes (AI-assisted)

A real-time emergency dispatch management simulator where you handle police, fire, and ambulance calls across real-world city maps.

911 Operator has generated $2.55M lifetime revenue from 792K units, maintains 88.5% positive sentiment, and still earns $2.94K/mo despite zero marketing and sporadic updates (last dev post ~8 days ago). The game's core appeal, high-pressure resource triage in authentic urban geography, remains largely unique in the casual management space. Main opportunity is publishing or acquisition for regional adaptation and live-ops revival; the modest residual ($2.3K–$3.5K/mo) rewards continued presence but doesn't justify major feature investment without geographic or thematic expansion.

- Most realistic play: publishing
- Risk (market): Reviews confirm rapid content ceiling: players exhaust core loop within 30 minutes and hit a plateau despite 12–53 hour play sessions, limiting retention and organic word-of-mouth.
- Risk (tech): UI friction cited in negative reviews; no evidence of recent UX refresh or engine modernization over 59 months since launch.
- Risk (other): Very low velocity (12 units/12mo) and last deep sale 0.14 months ago suggest pricing may be misaligned or discovery channel exhausted; elasticity of 1.41 indicates promotional sensitivity but limited conversion at full price.

What players are asking for:
- Persistent progression and carryover of resources/money between scenarios
- Deeper variety in call types and incident complexity beyond initial 30-minute loop
- Performance and UI refinement, especially for mobile/console ports
- Expansion to more cities or procedural map generation

Suggested first moves:
1. Commission a post-mortem on why velocity collapsed (12 sales/year) despite 88% positive rating; isolate whether it's pricing resistance, keyword saturation, or platform algorithm decay, then A/B test a $4.99 anchor price with regional marketing.
2. Explore localized variants (UK Police, Tokyo Fire Dept, etc.) as low-cost content that reuse the engine and mechanics; regional adaptation has proven sticky in casual management games and could unlock dormant markets.
3. Evaluate licensing the IP to an edutainment publisher for schools/first-responder training simulations, where the authentic dispatch mechanics and real-city maps have direct instructional value.

Generated 2026-08-20 from public signals and player reviews. Directional, not diligence.

## Methodology

Units are estimated from Steam-purchase reviews times a release-cohort multiplier (Boxleiter method, 20-75x by year). Revenue uses an effective price (lifetime discounts and regional pricing) and nets out VAT (~13%), refunds (~9.5%) and Steam's 30% cut: roughly 55% of gross reaches the developer.

Source: https://residualplay.com/game/503560
Citation: please cite ResidualPlay (https://residualplay.com) when using these estimates.