I can't give straight answer to this question, but probably more yes than no. Remember what was said when Nations League was introduced - main goal of it is to replace boring international friendly games and make it more competitive. So, in general, yeah, it's just more competetive friendly games.
It's enough to check results in Nations League, especially in League A where strongest teams play. There is so many upsets, we barely can see such results in EURO or World Cup qualifiers, when games really matters.
Which unfortunately means that the games do not matter at all, and even if the organizers want to give it a more intense vibe, if the players are not felling it and they do not care about the result then the games will resemble nothing else but a friendly match.
Besides the moment they choose to do this could not be more inconvenient, as the local leagues of most European Leagues ended just weeks ago and the players were looking forward to their vacations and instead they are playing a bunch of games no one really cares about.