Speaking to The Times, the UK Xbox boss suggested that the supposed battle between the two formats may be rendered obsolete by future technology.

“It’s nowhere near the importance of the format war between VHS and DVD,” he said. “The internet is becoming an increasingly important medium. Surely online is going to be the distribution method for much of the high-definition content [in future].

“[Blu-Ray is] two, three years ahead of the market. People won’t want to replace their entire DVD collections, and they’ll get a better resolution with a standard DVD on an Xbox than a PS3.”

Thompson added that there was “really little” under the PS3’s hood that made him think, “’Gosh, I wish we had that’.”

However, Thompson also admitted that the PS3’s graphical capability did rival the Xbox 360 and that, “The biggest threat that Sony has for us is the brand that’s been established around it.”