The new year is finally here, and with its arrival comes the hope that 2016 finally brings along with it the official announcement that "Elder Scrolls 6" is nearing completion.

Unfortunately, the belief that the game will be released this year seems to be more deeply rooted in fan optimism than it is in actual reality.

The people over at Bethesda have said little to nothing official about the "Elder Scrolls 6" outside of a few stray references during interviews, and it's hard to tell if that will be changing soon.

It's also worth noting that Bethesda has yet to even announce what will be coming to "Fallout 4" as DLC and given how widely played that title is, finishing everything they need to that relates to that game would seem to be their priority.

It seems likely that Bethesda will only truly begin working in earnest on the "Elder Scrolls 6" once "Fallout 4" is completely done, and if that is indeed the case, then fans will probably be best served to look at 2017 if they want to find out anything new about the still unconfirmed game, according to Crossmap.

Another issue that should give fans pause when it comes to hoping that the "Elder Scrolls 6" could be released in 2016 is the fact that there's no official word yet on where the game will even take place.

It's been suggested that the game might simply return to Skyrim for the next installment.

There was even a recent Ubisoft survey that asked gamers which title they were looking forward to the most, and in that poll, players could select the option of "Skyrim 2," Donklephant reported.

Other regions such as Argonia and Hammerfell have also been mentioned as possible settings for the new game, although Bethesda has yet again chosen to steer clear of those rumors.

At this point, it's still tough to get a good read on what Bethesda has planned for "Elder Scrolls 6" in terms of its new location and when it might be released, and all fans can really do is to stay tuned and to hope things start happening very quickly.