Is "See your friends" not what he actually promised?[1] Rare certainly doesn't mean never. In another interview, he said players running into each other will be rare but will be less rare if more players buy the game, which doesn't make since if the probability of this happening is always 0.

Even after the game came out he kept up the charade. When two players on the same planet couldn't see each other he made evasive comments about server load[2].

[1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqeN6hj4dZU&t=5m41s

[2]: https://twitter.com/nomanssky/status/763271005003538432