Major games journalism outlets are scrambling to re-issue their review scores in line with the new guidelines put out by the International Gamer Council today.

The Council traditionally revises review score guidelines once per calendar year but was forced to convene an emergency meeting when IGN announced that Uncharted 4 was “only” an 8.8 out of 10.

“Gamers have a right to be concerned when games like Uncharted 4, which are clearly amazing judging by the trailers we’ve seen, aren’t scoring at least a 9.5/10 every single time,” announced the Council in a press release.

“Game journalists often have wrong, or incorrect ideas about what a review score conveys to the reader.”

“We feel this latest adjustment to the review guidelines will help games journalists better understand what numbers actually mean.”

The new guidelines, explained

Fortunately for games journalists, who are notorious for their poor reading comprehension, the new guidelines are easy to comply with.

“Journalists are now advised that eight (8) out of ten (10) now represents a ‘bad’ score,” claims the new guidelines. “All AAA or blockbuster games must be given a minimum score of nine (9) out of ten (10).”

The International Gamer Council explains that seven has been “removed from circulation”.

“The number seven (7) does not exist. If you should be tempted to score a game seven (7) out of ten (10), instead simply do not review the game at all.”