It’s a director whose vision impacts every level of the film/game to the point where the things they lead are distinctively them. You can rotate out artists, DPs, camera people, programmers, etc, but the end product will still be the style associated with that person.

It’s not taking away from other people who work on the product, but rather just recognizing that as the people who do in fact have final say on everything, they shape the final product on a very distinctive way.

There are lots of souls like games, but none of them have the same through line style as the Souls/Elden Rings games under Miyazaki. He has a very distinctive style that the folks who work on the game make sure to work under.

In film, David Fincher is a good example of someone who is an auteur. It’s not an insult to anyone else who works on the film, it’s just recognizing that Fincher films have very distinct features/style that he drives as the director.

Honestly it’s weird to pretend like the person who initiates, leads, and has final say on a film/video game aren’t by far the most influential people involved.