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Why did John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern develop game theory for economics?

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A colorful payoff matrix for a normal form game in game theory, showing strategy options-support, oppose, evade-for both party A and party B. Each cell contains cartoon figures representing each party's action and lists percentage payoffs for A and B. The bottom-right cell is labeled saddlepoint, highlighting the equilibrium. — game theory Table 1
The normal-form table illustrates the concept of a saddlepoint, or entry, in a payoff matrix at which the expected gain of each participant (row or column) has the highest guaranteed payoff.

John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern developed game theory because they believed that the mathematical models used in the physical sciences were inadequate for analyzing economics.1

In their seminal 1944 work, The Theory of Games and Economic Behavior, they argued that while physical sciences describe a "disinterested nature," economic life is fundamentally different. They observed that economic activity is characterized by interdependent decision-making, where participants—or "players"—must anticipate the strategies and moves of their competitors.1

Because the outcome of an economic situation depends on the choices of multiple parties with potentially conflicting or mixed interests, von Neumann and Morgenstern concluded that economics requires a specialized mathematical framework. By treating economic interactions as strategic games, they sought to provide a rigorous, "Newtonian" science for understanding how individuals and firms make optimal decisions, including how they account for risk and uncertainty.123