Battlefield: Bad Company 2 won't put up a fight against XBL party chat

Electronic Arts has called in another marketing airstrike against Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, hoping to pull members of its fanbase who're unhappy with its online play towards Battlefield: Bad Company 2. The previous target was dedicated servers for PC players; now it's Xbox Live party chat and the ability to use it in multiplayer.

Speaking with MTV Multiplayer, EA DICE producer Gordon Van Dyke stated, "We are ok with [party chat]. We haven't taken a stance being against it and feeling like people are cheating." Modern Warfare 2 only offers party chat support in a handful of its multiplayer playlists, ostensibly to curb cheating. But, according to Van Dyke, he doesn't "think [cheating with party chat is] that big of an issue, that I've seen, where we have to worry about that" in Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

So, is party chat (or the lack thereof) really that important to you? Share your thoughts in comments.