Gamescom is one of the largest annual gaming events in the world, drawing crowds in the hundreds of thousands to Cologne, Germany, where it is has been held every August since 2009. Despite a slightly smaller crowd last year, this year’s Gamescom was a resounding success with a record breaking 345,000 people in attendance.

“Gamescom has reached the next level – it has not only experienced further growth this year in terms of the exhibition space and the numbers of trade and private visitors,” said Dr. Maximilian Schenk, managing director of Gamescom’s conceptual sponsor and German trade group BIU, in a statement. “Thanks to many new events and campaigns, it has also become even more diversified this year. It is a reflection of the increasing significance of computer and video games in our society. Gamescom has impressively confirmed its exceptional position as the world’s largest event for computer and video games and Europe’s most important business platform this year.”

This year’s event was held a bit earlier in the month than usual, which could be one explanation for the larger crowd, but Gamescom also had a strong showing from eSports events and presentations from the developers of highly anticipated new games like Star Wars: Battlefront and Fallout 4.

Gamescom 2015 also represented the first time that Blizzard Entertainment Inc announced a World of Warcraft expansion at a non-Blizzard event. A crowd that numbered in the thousands surrounded the Gamescom stage to watch the announcement of Legion, which will be the sixth expansion for the decade old MMO. Blizzard also hosted several fan competitions, including WoW dungeon races, a costume judging event, and a WoW racial dance competition.

“[Gamescom] has been amazing,” said World of Warcraft Lead Game Designer Ion Hazzikostas during a livestream on Sunday. “I mean, coming out here to announce a brand new expansion in front of all the fans in Cologne is an incredible experience. Like getting on stage and just seeing this wall of humanity going all the way back to the end of the hall, and then hearing the roar that came out from the crowd – can’t beat it.”

Photo by Sergey Galyonkin