Well it depends. Hidetaka Miyazaki,for example, is one such “auteur game designer” and it’s very clear when he has had his influence on a game. Just compare D

Well it depends. Hidetaka Miyazaki,for example, is one such “auteur game designer” and it’s very clear when he has had his influence on a game. Just compare Dark Souls 1 or 3 (which he worked on) to Dark Souls 2 (which he didn’t work on) and Bloodborne (which was created by Miyazaki in parallel with DS2) and you’ll see that his influence on games that he has a direct hand in is massive. Or for something more relevant, the first and only Metal Gear game released after Kojima was fired by Konami - Meta Gear: Survive - was an unmitigated disaster. Metal Gear Solid 5 was unfinished and flawed, but there’s no denying that it had Kojima’s flourish on it.