diff --git a/panda/src/nametag/chatBalloon.cxx b/panda/src/nametag/chatBalloon.cxx
index 247d080e50..e793502dbf 100644
--- a/panda/src/nametag/chatBalloon.cxx
+++ b/panda/src/nametag/chatBalloon.cxx
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 #include "sceneGraphReducer.h"
 #include "cullBinAttrib.h"
 #include "cullFaceAttrib.h"
+#include "depthWriteAttrib.h"
 
 ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
 //     Function: ChatBalloon::Constructor
@@ -170,6 +171,9 @@ generate(const std::string &text, TextFont *font, float wordwrap,
 
   PandaNode *text_parent_node = (PandaNode *)NULL;
 
+  // This is required for modern Panda3D.
+  text_geom_node->set_attrib(DepthWriteAttrib::make(DepthWriteAttrib::M_off));
+
   if (for_3d) {
     // If this is to be a 3-d chat balloon, we have to decal the text
     // onto the middle piece.