Grand Theft Auto V and Gangnam Style you say? At first glance, most people probably expect the two have very little in common, with the most obvious comparison being in relation to their popularity. GTA V smashed through video game sales records and continues to perform well, while the K-pop song “Gangnam Style” raced toward the top of music charts and was the first video on Youtube to hit 1 billion views.
In fact, Gangnam Style became so popular, its Youtube view count increased until it crossed the site’s original view count maximum: 2,147,483,647 views.
That number may be familiar to some GTA V players, especially those who have tried to earn as much money as possible in the single player part of the game. This is because the maximum amount of money you can have in GTA V is $2,147,483,647. Most features in the game, such as the stock market and pedestrians’ money, will obey the cap, so you don’t go over it. If you do manage to cross it, however, you’ll encounter a glitch and find yourself with negative $2,147,483,647.
To the average person, it may seem like a strange amount. A number ending in 0 or 9 seems a more fitting maximum. However, for both Youtube counters and video games, we’re dealing with technology. 2,147,483,647 is the maximum positive value for a 32-bit signed binary integer. Programs that use 32-bit integers, therefore, will be capped at that amount. Check out this Wikipedia entry for a more detailed explanation.
Initial reports said the Gangnam Style views “broke” the view counter, but Youtube has since clarified that there wasn’t a problem (instead it was the aforementioned 32-bit integer problem). The view counter now uses a 64-bit integer, so the maximum number of views it can display has been increased to 9,223,372,036,854,775,808.
Now if only you could have that much money in GTA V!
