Yes it will outsell all the other COD's but this will be it's last one. After MW3 I think the series will slowly die like what happened to Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero.

Tbh i think people keep telling themselves the same thing "the next one will be different"

Most people don't care. They look at COD like Madden-fans look at madden. They know there would be liitle to no improvements and they're fine with that. 

It's sell more just with the Modern Warfare name alone. COD is the new Madden or to a higher extent NBA Live. NBA Live was the best selling Basketball game until they got lazy and NBA 2K started gaining steam. Battlefield 3, I think will get a strong word of mouth following, which will lead to better sales for the series down the line (2-3 years time).

That's really sad though that people are ok with that

i know, but people will but it because it's CoD the "harcore game for harcore gamers..." I'll just post the same thing I said in another thread:

the PS3 and 360 sales combined increase yearly about 20-24 mil,( really rough estimate) now when a person buys a system they usually ask their friend for recommendations, now COD being the huge franchise/seller it is, the chances of that person having atleast one copy will suggest it or it's latest coming title, thus the chance for the franchise growing.(assuming previous owners buy along with new coming owners)

this idea hit me as I was in gamestop and a bunch teens walked in talking to one of they're friends(who seem to recently have bought a 360) to get call of duty: black ops, and also talked him into pre-ordering MW3

You forgot Call of Duty 2 for X360, that game caused the switcheroo.

Well if you want to add that, then Call of Duty 3 should also be added for PS2.  According to vgchartz, it sold 0.88 million.  While it won't affect Xbox 360 as the leader for that game, it closes the gap.

The truth is, CoD will never die. The reason for this is that people buy this game to play with friends and others online. Also, youtube channels such as machinima show nothing but CoD when a new game comes out, and this gets the public into buying the new game.