The NPD Group--the market research company that tracks consumer spending for the video game industry--has announced that it will soon expand its coverage to include several European countries. Beginning in October, NPD will begin tracking sales data in the United Kingdom, Germany, and France initially. The NPD Group has previously only covered game sales data in North American markets.

As in other regions, The NPD Group will track "new physical formats sold at retail, social network gaming, used video games, rentals, subscriptions, digital downloads, downloadable content, and mobile games." Sales tracking outside of physical retailers to this point has been largely absent in Europe.

"The new digital distribution channels in video games are not country specific. They are global in nature, which is why NPD is taking its proven, proprietary methodology, developed over a number of years, and applying it to a global perspective," said NPD Group analyst, Anita Frazier in the official press release.

The expanded coverage will start with the fourth financial quarter in 2011, which runs from October through December 2011. The announcement also notes that the "launch of the service in Europe will then be followed by further expansion in major Asian markets."