So only recently have a really begun to crawl the forums and search the internet for news and speculation regarding TES:V. Anyways, I was just wondering why everyone is so convinced that Skyrim is the most likely candidate for the province in which TES: V will take place. I've tried searching google but can't seem to find any official information even hinting at Skyrim or any other province as a possibility, yet half the TES: V speculation thread are all bout what we'd like to see in Skyrim. But perhaps I am still vastly uninformed.....

Anyone care to help a newb out?

Zenimax only has a handful of trademarks related to TES, and each and every one of them have been used as the name of a game or DLC. All except one, which is Skyrim. They've had this trademark since 2006, and it's about to expire. Well, actually they have 3 Skyrim marks about to expire. Zenimax extended their expiration dates until they used the maximum number of extensions, the latest extension being earlier this year, and these extensions made people think they're using it for something as they wont let it expire. But people still had doubts. That is until they filed for a brand new Skyrim trademark a few weeks ago. Not the name of another province, they trademarked Skyrim, yet again, and this trademark wont expire for another 3 years. This essentially means it is extremely likely they're going to call TES V Skyrim, unless they like spending money on trademarks for the hell of it.

No, wander, however, that you did not find anything official on this metter. So far, we do not even know for sure that there will be a TES V game. It is very likely, though and it is also very likely that it will be called Skyrim. But all in all, it is but a speculation at this point and nothing is certain.

The trademark could just as well be for use by Zenimax Online for a MMO as far as I can see.
To quote a "wise" sage,

Its all pretty much guesswork atm.

I've heard that it was going to be Summerset Isles, but IDK. I don't have confirmed facts.

Here's what I know. Just like most people, I don't have confirmation but I do have my own sources who have other sources and I am not at liberty to mention names. With the Skyrim trademark issue that has been going on, I'm pretty sure ESV will take place in Skyrim. I've also been told that Skyrim will not be the only province in the game. I'm not sure what the other province is. Your guess is as good as mine. While Fallout 3 was nearing the end of production, a small team at BGS started preproduction on ESV. I've read on Wiki that Bethesda hired a former employee to work on Nordic Lore text and what not. As we all know, Nords live in Skyrim. And ESV will be out for the current consoles and I'm pretty sure we'll have ESVI on the next gen.

The way I see it Bethesda Publishing Studios is working on thier own stuff like Rage and Brink. Makes you wonder what the employees at Bethesda Game Studios are working on. I doubt they're sitting at thier desk throwing pencils at the ceiling. The Elder Scroll series is Bethesda's crack. They will not abandon the series. QuakeCon 2010 is comming up and is hosted by Bethesda and ID. It will be Bethesdas playground to announce something. I have a positive feeling about it. ID plans on announcing Doom 4 at QuakeCon but I'm pretty sure that alot of people going to QuakeCon are there for a certain announcement from Bethesda. I'm expecting ESV early next year.

This is the voice of logic.

Actually it would the words of logic since you cant hear voices on here.

There is already a speculation topic, let's not start another.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1104749-official-tes-v-speculation-thread-54/