TOKYO, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Sony ( SONY ) said on Friday

its operating profit rose 73% in the July-September quarter,

with strong sales in its game and network business helping to

offset weakness in movies.

Sony ( SONY ), whose businesses also include music and chips,

maintained its profit forecast of 1.31 trillion yen ($8.51

billion) for the year to March, largely in line with the 1.34

trillion yen estimate of 24 analysts polled by LSEG.

Sony's ( SONY ) second quarter operating profit soared to 455.1

billion yen from 263 billion yen a year before, helped by solid

sales of image sensors.

As well as a rise in third-party software sales, Sony ( SONY )

President Hiroki Totoki highlighted improving profitability in

its game hardware business.

"We continue seeing a smooth shift (among consumers) to PS5

from PS4, which is leading to higher software sales also,"

Totoki said in an earnings briefing.

Sony ( SONY ) generates more than a third of its revenues from the

game and network service segment, where profit nearly tripled to

138.8 billion yen during quarter. Sony ( SONY ) released an upgraded

version of its flagship console with better graphics on Nov. 7.

It raised the game sector's annual profit outlook to 355

billion yen from 320 billion yen, leading to a slight upward

revision of group annual revenue forecast to 12.71 trillion yen.

Although Sony's ( SONY ) sales of its PlayStation 5 were down 22%

from the second quarter in 2023 at 3.8 million, it maintained a

sales forecast of 18 million units for this financial year.

The industry is grappling with the rising cost of creating

games and Sony ( SONY ) said last month it was shutting down two

PlayStation developers, including "Concord" developer Firework

Studios which launched the game in August.

Sony's ( SONY ) movie sector generated profit of 185 billion yen in

the quarter, down from 294 billion yen a year ago, due to the

delayed release of movies after Hollywood's strikes in 2023.

($1 = 152.8700 yen)