Optimization approach to Berge equilibrium for bimatrix game

Abstract

The paper deals with a Berge equilibrium (Theorie generale des jeux a-personnes, Gauthier Villars, Paris, 1957; Some problems of non-antagonistic differential games, 1985) in the bimatrix game for mixed strategies. Motivated by Nash equilibrium (Ann Math 54(2):286, 1951; Econometrica 21(1):128–140, 1953), we prove an existence of Berge equilibrium in the bimatrix game. Based on Mills theorem (J Soc Ind Appl Math 8(2):397–402, 1960), we reduce the bimatrix game to a nonconvex optimization problem. We illustrate the proposed approach on an example.