lol I really don't think their chasing CoD :lol:
More like EA/Dice made a fortune off the Premium and Pre-release purchase model in BF3 so their going to work it from the very beginning this time around.
Their likely going to pimp the additional weapon camos and maybe even player camos, exclusive maps, exclusive weapon gadgets or vehicle gadgets, and other bells and whistles to entice people into paying more for a game they already own.
EA isn't going to be happy until you can no longer purchase a game from them outright, they'll want to lease it to you instead for a recurring fee.
FYI, BF3 sold 5 million copies in the first week and somewhere in the neighbourhood of 15 million copies to date.