The problem is that game theory doesn’t actually get the best result, even for the person applying it. A rigorous attempt to play a Nash Equilibrium gets worse payouts than the intuitive way that ordinary people play. Game theory does not tell you how to maximize your returns, it tells you how to make sure no one else does better than you. There was a recent game theory headline and discussion of this here: Chimps beat humans at game theory. The chimps mimicked game theory, the people didn’t, but when you add up the result the people did better than the chimps.
Game theory is useful for one thing: winning at games. Applying it to real life requires a good deal of fear and spite.
