This could either be a massive commercial failure for the Battlefield series, or they will stand up well on their own, since hopefully they won't be "up against" COD.
It's all down to which game they decide to make and release...will they make it Battlefield 3? Or will they continue to rip out all the features and feel of the Battlefield series, and release "Battlefield 3: Bad Company". If the latter then they may as well give up now..I won't be buying it and nor will anyone else who's been looking forward to it. Bad enough that commander mode has been removed, using the Frostbite engine is risky..but we'll have to wait and see when the beta is out later this year.
So in short, if it's true battlefield, it will sell bucketloads on the PC and will definitely top the charts there. If they release BC3 instead (with the BF name) then it will be a flop.