Ummm, no, they haven't. WoW's numbers can generally be found in SEC filings and shareholder documents. These are legal documents, falsifying information on them is actionable in both civil and criminal court. No one is going to risk being sued into the poorhouse and then going to jail just to inflate an MMOs numbers a tad.

If it's a press release, you can be sure it's a lie.

If it's a legal document, you can be sure it's at least close enough to the truth to be defensible in a court of law.

Whatever Blizzard, Vivendi, and WoW's flaws, and they are legion, transparency and believability where their subscriber numbers are concerned are not among them.