Game-distribution platform (and messaging app) Kakao has driven 500 million downloads on iOS and Android

The first company that figures out how to monetize word-of-mouth marketing is probably going to make a lot of money — oh, wait. Kakao is already doing that.

The South Korean messaging app KakaoTalk, which is also one of the biggest app-distribution platforms in the world, announced today that it has reached a total of 500 million downloads. That means that its users have clicked a link in its app, gone into the iOS App Store or Google Play, and downloaded software more than half a billion times. Kakao, along with its partner studios, offers these games on the chat app, players talk about them with one another, and then Kakao takes a cut of the revenue when someone installs it. This has helped the company bring in over $1 billion since adding games two years ago.