# Surgeon Simulator 2

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

- Steam appid: 774791
- Developer: Bossa Studios
- Publisher: Infogrames
- Released: 2021 · Genre: Action · List price: $19.99
- Deal grade: A (A = dormant with >=$5k/mo opportunity, D = low signal)
- Est. net residual revenue: $2.2k to $3.3k per month (mid $2.8k)
- Opportunity score: $5.2k/month at x1.90 dormancy multiplier
- Est. lifetime owners: 65.0k · Est. lifetime net revenue: $323.9k
- Review sentiment: 43% positive across 2593 reviews (2031 from Steam purchases)
- Review velocity: 22.2 reviews/month (6-month average)

## Why it's flagged

- Developer silent for 4.2 years
- Studio active elsewhere (6 titles tracked), so this one may welcome a partner
- Last build shipped 23 months ago
- Last discounted 1 months ago, 10 sales in the last 12 months
- Proven demand elasticity: x1.2 review velocity during past deep sales

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

| Stage | USD/month |
|---|---|
| Gross storefront sales | $5.0k |
| After VAT / sales tax (-13% blended) | $4.4k |
| After refunds (-9.5% median) | $3.9k |
| Net to developer (after Steam 30%) | $2.8k |

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

18, 37, 77, 53, 71, 53, 52, 59, 28, 48, 28, 19, 23, 29, 28, 26, 22, 30, 12, 24, 44, 14, 20, 19

## Estimated acquisition range

$66.3k to $132.6k (2-4x the trailing net annuity of $33.1k/year). Same error range applies.

## Analyst notes (AI-assisted)

A physics-based surgical comedy game where multiplayer co-op was the core draw but has since been removed, leaving the single-player experience fragmented and abandoned by its audience.

Surgeon Simulator 2 generated $324k lifetime on 65k units but now earns only $2.76k/mo residual with a 43% positive rating, poisoned by the 2021 decision to discontinue multiplayer after launch. The community's pain is specific and quantifiable: players bought it explicitly for co-op and feel defrauded. For a publisher or developer with IP rights and server infrastructure, restoring multiplayer could unlock a fast goodwill recovery and reactivate the dormant 10-unit-per-year tail, but the reputational cost of shipping headless merits serious legal review of what went wrong.

- Most realistic play: revival
- Risk (market): 42.7% positive score and overwhelming player testimony that multiplayer removal broke the core value proposition; restoring it alone may not convince refund-seekers or burned trust.
- Risk (other): Developer Bossa Studios has posted nothing in 50 months and Infogrames owns it; unclear who holds the will or budget to reinvest in server infrastructure.
- Risk (tech): Multiplayer architecture may be entangled with backend now deprecated or third-party (e.g., old Wwise, Photon) requiring expensive rework to restore.

What players are asking for:
- Restore multiplayer / co-op functionality (overwhelming and repeated across 15+ reviews)
- Clarify who is responsible for the removal and communicate a roadmap
- Honor or revisit refund requests for players who bought for co-op

Suggested first moves:
1. Audit Infogrames' legal and financial obligations: determine if multiplayer removal triggered service discontinuance liability and whether re-enabling it is contractually or technically feasible without major rework.
2. Survey residual player base (current $2.76k/mo suggests 100-200 active players; a low-cost Discord post or in-game modal could capture demand signals and willingness-to-return data).
3. Evaluate hybrid or limited multiplayer soft-launch (e.g., local co-op only, or a free weekend with experimental netcode) to test cost-benefit before committing to full backend restoration.

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/774791
Citation: please cite ResidualPlay (https://residualplay.com) when using these estimates.