World of Warcraft claims a 58 percent share of the subscription-MMO market in the West, according to a new report published by analyst group Screen Digest.

The seminal title has, since its launch in 2005, provided publisher Activision-Blizzard with $2.2 billion in subscriber fees.

Employing a wide outlook on the MMO games market, Screen Digest's report reveals that subscription-based MMO titles had enjoyed 22 percent growth in 2008, with the market now valued at $1.4 billion in Europe and North America alone.

The “subscription market” will continue to grow, the report states, due to a number of factors such as the industry’s increasing success from premium subscription service models.

Much like microtransactions, premium subscriptions – which typically offer more features and a better service in free-to-play titles – become increasingly tempting to those who frequently play restricted free-to-play titles.

An example of this would be RuneScape; still today the most popular free MMORPG. Players can join for free, yet by subscribing they can experience a more thorough, feature-laden service without any advertising.

In fact, the report identifies RuneScape as one of 2008’s biggest subscription titles, despite having a huge free-playing userbase.

“Industry commentators have for some time been using the example of the Asian online games market to proclaim the death of subscription business models in the West,” says Piers Harding-Rolls, Senior Games Analyst at Screen Digest and author of the report.

Harding-Rolls believes that subscriptions remain an “important and lucrative” way of monetising MMOGs in the West, and adds that the growth of the market in 2008 supports this view.

“As a share of the total ex-WoW 2008 market, consumer spending on premium subscriptions grew by 11% year-on-year, from 35% to 46%. This swing towards premium subscriptions has helped reinvigorate a diverse market that was threatening to be overwhelmed by the dominant success of World of Warcraft,” he adds.

With Activision-Blizzard’s benchmark title taken out of the equation, subscription titles saw average growth of 27 percent in 2008. Last year, the same growth rate was at 12 percent.