Seems the gamin news outlets are catching wind of the reduced player counts:
https://www.polygon.com/platform/amp/2020/9/4/21422795/red-dead-online-rdo-lobbies-rockstar-redemption-2-player-count
Something else interesting in that article:
"On social media, one Red Dead Online community posed a poll asking players if they’d like small lobby counts to be permanent, and out of more than 3,200 replies, an overwhelming number of people voted yes. The consensus seems to be that folks will take the game actually working over making it a social experience."