I would expect to see more failed MO due to what everyone said here plus the natural player count decay. A weekend high of 40k concurrents should be when it stabilizes.
Looks like someone was troubleshooting their friend list. When throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks, “make the game public” always comes up.
If you cannot play the game due to region lock, please immediately request a refund. Please inform other people who quit the game and are in a region lock country to request a refund.