Spore was meant to simulate ecosystems and populate them with all sorts of cool things and be a game that was like CIv-Sims-action and then a sandbox space game at the end as your organism evolved into a space age. They released an initial impressive tech demo that promised a lot of things much like this game has done.
It had a procedural engine that would animate any creature you made and would take player creations and have them populate your game world. Instead. Will Wright trashed the project when they found it to be too hard to make workable and he told MTV in an interview they did it for broad appeal. One of the Execs at Maxis was caught mentioning she didn't like the serious tone of the game and wanted a cutesy hearts and bright colors game that would appeal to the audience of the sims. They watered down the game and turned it into a mix of random ipad level games stitched together into a monstrosity of a PC game.
http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2008/09/07/will-wright-reacts-to-crtical-spore-reviews/
I don't see creative differences and publisher feedback undermining the core mechanics of No Man's Sky. Their creative direction looks pretty solid with this. It's also self-published.