"We’re focused on bringing players incredible worlds to explore, and will keep our full priced holiday releases, including The Outer Worlds 2, at $69.99 – in line with current market conditions," an Xbox spokesperson explained in a statement to Windows Central.
If you've already pre-ordered The Outer Worlds 2 at the $79.99 price point, you will have to grab refunds at the point of purchase if you've already paid up. Microsoft says some retailers will light up with refunds today, but some will start accepting refunds from tomorrow. Then, you can pre-order again at the new $69.99 price tier.
I agree with you that time isn't the measure of value. That's not what the person above said though. Honestly, I think it was a pretty bad game. The writting didn't trust the player, instead they beat them over the head that it's a goofy critique of capitalism. The characters were boring. The game in general just wasn't very fun.
Honestly, it did fall into what you're saying where it felt bloated. There was potentially a good game in there, but it was buried under everything that wasn't interesting but they thought they needed.