Just a few years ago, it seemed that the bias against visual novels in the gamer community was so high that we would never see any released on Steam. The digital distributor best known for its massive PC game sales has a vast library but very few visual novels. Tides may be changing now thanks to Steam Greenlight.

Higurashi: When They Cry is known by most anime fans as a horrific show with cutesy characters. However, the inspiration for the anime came not from manga or books but a visual novel series. Manga Gamer brought the games to Western fans, but Steam really owns the world of game distribution on computers. This is why it's so exciting that, thanks to Greenlight, users selected Higurashi: When They Cry to be released on Steam!

The game is not out yet, but it is now officially in the pipeline of upcoming Steam releases. Another visual novel by the name of Long Live the Queen was also selected. Hopefully this means the path is now open for more games of this genre to come to Steam - creating more fans in the process.