A lot of matches seem to wrap up in four to six minutes, leaving only a short stretch of active fighting after the opening moves. Could higher damage, faster collapses, or something else be behind it?
Higher damage could be part of it, but I’d look at how quickly one side gains an advantage, too. If early spotting lets several players focus the same target, a small lead can turn into a collapse before the match has really settled into a back-and-forth.
Map layout and where teams choose to move may matter as well. Without match-time data over a longer period, though, it’s hard to tell whether the average has actually changed or whether a run of short games is standing out.
Short matches can feel especially abrupt when the opening drive takes a big chunk of the clock. Even if the total match length has not shifted much, a few minutes of movement followed by a quick finish makes the fighting part seem tiny.
I’d separate two questions: are matches ending sooner, and are players getting less time in active combat? Those can have different answers.
Could be the damage pace, sure, but I wouldn’t pin it on that alone. Once a team gets outnumbered on a flank, people often have to retreat or get picked off, and the rest of the match can end fast. Some games still go long, so the short ones may just be more noticeable.
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