Or are there really a lot less players online than you'd think? And is that player count you see for each mode only regional or worldwide?

And how is it that despite the game showing 72 players in 7 Games in Progress, when I try to join one I get put into a lobby by myself? Mathematics would suggest that 7 games with 72 players would have at least one free spot to join each, yet I didn't join. I got my own lobby.

I just spent 15 minutes waiting for a game of Crash Spears to start. Granted, it's almost 4:00am here, but it's a bank holiday tomorrow. So I waited, left the lobby, tried to join again, got put into empty lobbies again... It felt like playing on C2 DLC maps two weeks after release.
Eventually some people joined and then I played three games.

First: started 3v3, two people lagged out, then it was 4vMe, then it was eventually 4v3.
Second: 3v3
Third: 3v4

Now, according to the C3stats website at http://crysis3s.com there were over 1100 people playing MP when I started playing, but the sum of in-game per-mode player numbers did not equal even half of that.

Now, one might argue how accurate a third party counter could be, but if you look at the site, check your own stats or something, you'll see how accurate and immediate changes are reflected on it. You can play a few games, check the site right after, update your stats and check your history, and the games you just played are in there. So I'd say it's pretty accurate.

So I've been wondering if the tweaks to matchmaking, prioritizing low ping times and low proximity, have effectively become a region lock? And the per-mode player numbers in game only reflect the current population of people in your region?

I'd like to think so. Otherwise, not being able to get a match WORLDWIDE for 15 minutes at ANY time of day might be construed as a declaration of death.

But, then again, this afternoon, a player from Australia kept repeatedly popping up in a European lobby. His ping indicator was red, yet in-game it wasn't that bad. But he was Australian. All alone. He also left the lobby several times, but always seemed to come back.

I'm confused. Is the population really that low? Or was there a secret region lock for matchmaking? Is Crytek hiding the insufficiency of their netcoding, with which transatlantic games become unbearable, behind region restricted quick-match searches?

All in all it does not bode well...