A missing genre breakdown is a finding worth preserving

GameAnalytics explicitly withholds genre-level benchmarks in its 2026 Mobile & PC report while it improves categorisation. A puzzle-specific target cannot be extracted from that absent table. Methodology.

Resist the nearest-label substitution

A broad mobile median is not automatically a casual-game median, and a region is not a proxy for a genre. If a planning document needs a narrower benchmark, label that requirement as unmet rather than relabelling the closest available number.

Our recommendation is to write down the intended comparison before searching for a statistic. Specify game model, player stage, acquisition mix and metric definition. That makes it easier to recognise when an attractive public chart answers a different question.

Use internal cohorts to fill the decision gap

A missing external comparison does not prevent useful work. Compare successive builds or clearly defined traffic cohorts within the game, preserving their differences. GameAnalytics’ retention documentation shows how custom start and return triggers can frame a narrower behavioural question, provided the analyst records them.

This is not a substitute for a representative market dataset. It is a way to make a local decision without pretending that external coverage is more precise than it is. The card’s “not available” field is intentionally part of the deliverable: it prevents a later presentation from gaining false specificity as the original methodology falls out of view.

Inspect the evidence

Download the source-population and comparability card. The extraction separates documented facts from our analysis and unknowns.

Further reading in the existing archive: How to Read AppsFlyer's Annual Gaming Benchmarks Report; The benchmark report is selling you something. These links provide background; this check does not independently verify their full contents.