Let's compare this character evolution in the game to activity points on Bitcointalk. It takes time and hard work to build-up your account/character. With traditional games, you never become the real owner of that character you spent time creating. You can't transfer them between games.
Actually you can transfer your account/character if creator/owner of the other game support it it. While i don't know if there are any game which allow do it, forum "AltcoinsTalks" allow you to transfer your rank from Bitcointalk with few condition[1].
If your hard drive fails, your data is lost, and your game progress and characters are lost as well.
Only true if it's offline game and you never make backup.
When the game developer released a 2nd edition of the game, you have to start from 0 again.
I don't play game much, but i've seen few game which allow you to import your character appearance/progress from previous game. If your game doesn't support it, you're out of luck.
There is your use case, and that creates a market and demand. I am not a gamer, it doesn't affect me personally, but I understand how this would appeal to those who are.
While you made good point, i wonder how many gamers who actually care about advantage of NFT for their game when many of them hate it[2].
[1]
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5290710.0[2]
https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/q8rc4x/steam_will_be_kicking_all_blockchain_games_off/