*

Sony ( SONY ) sold 9.5 mln PS5 units in Q3

*

Games unit's profits grew 37%

*

Music business buoyed by revenue from streaming services

(Adds details of games unit's performance in paragraphs 5 and

6)

By Sam Nussey

TOKYO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Sony ( SONY ) raised on

Thursday its operating profit forecast for the year ending in

March by 2% to 1.34 trillion yen ($8.70 billion), citing the

strength of its gaming business.

Once best known for consumer electronics such as the

Walkman, Sony's ( SONY ) business spans games, movies, music and image

sensors.

Operating profit in the third quarter was 469.3 billion yen,

up 1% on the same period a year earlier and beating analysts'

estimates of 404 billion, helped by growth in games and music.

President Hiroki Totoki is strengthening his grip over the

tech and entertainment conglomerate, taking the CEO role from

April 1.

Quarterly profit at Sony's ( SONY ) games unit grew 37%, driven by

higher sales and reduced losses from hardware.

Sony ( SONY ) sold 9.5 million PlayStation 5 units during the

quarter, compared to 8.2 million units a year earlier.

The music unit's profitability was also boosted by higher

revenues from streaming services.

($1 = 153.9700 yen)

(Reporting by Sam Nussey; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Kim

Coghill and Muralikumar Anantharaman)