Paper money really is quite filthy, but it takes a special type of hypochondriac or apocalypse fetishist to imagine a virus spread by notes bringing about the downfall of society. That's the premise of Tom Clancy's The Division, an online RPG Ubisoft announced for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 during its pre-E3 press conference.

The Division goes down three weeks after a bug-smeared note gets passed around on Black Friday, and New York City descends into chaos. First rubbish piles up in the street, then food begins to run out, then... well, you call in The Division to tidy up the mess.

The faux-spontaneous demo saw a group roaming the near-deserted streets of NYC, heading to help out a besieged police station. It looked mostly like another typical shooter in Ubisoft's modern Tom Clancy vein, with cover and guns and all that, but with skills and skill points and looting weapons and whatnot. Players had abilities like a group heal, area scans, homing mines, distracting noise-makers, and sentry turrets.

Then a chap playing on a tablet joined in, controlling an aerial drone. Yes, The Division also has a companion app which hooks into the regular game, like Ubisoft is apparently keen to make 'a thing,' letting mobile folks mark and attack targets and generally help out.

The Division is developed by Ubisoft's Massive Entertainment studio, creator of Ground Control and recent collaborator on Far Cry 3.

Look for it on Xbox One and PS4 in 2014. Fingers crossed for PC, gang. Hit the website for more.