The University of Bonn, where he had taught since 1984, said in a statement today that Selten died on Aug 23 in Poznan, Poland.
The university's rector, Michael Hoch, described Selten as "one of the most significant German scientists with the highest international reputation."
Selten received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences together with Hungarian-American John C Harsanyi and American John F Nash Jr.
They were jointly cited for their "pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games."
Game theory has been used to explain human behavior in diverse fields such as economics, politics and biology.