WeChat parent Tencent is reluctant to add any more advertising to its social network, with the company instead eyeing opportunities in its mobile games and artificial intelligence (AI) divisions, Financial Times reported.

In an interview, Tencent Corporate VP Steven Chang said the company was looking at ways to use its burgeoning games business to increase advertising revenue by incorporating features such as branded virtual costumes into its role-playing games.

The company will also use AI to push targeted advertising to users, but Chang confirmed there would be no additional advertising on its WeChat social platform. The executive said its focus for WeChat was to continue to develop its user experience rather than generate advertising revenue from the platform.

Success in Tencent’s gaming division was partly responsible for the company reporting its fastest revenue growth in seven years during Q2, as it recorded a profit of CNY18.2 billion ($2.7 billion).

During the three month period its games revenue grew 59 per cent driven by the popularity of titles including Honour of Kings, which had more than 200 million players at the start of July 2017 according to South China Morning Post. This makes it one of the world’s most downloaded games of all time.