The named 2048 tile is a milestone, not necessarily the end of a game. Higher tiles depend on leaving room to combine smaller ones. A common strategy is to keep the largest tile near a chosen corner and arrange large values in a predictable descending path.
This is a heuristic, not a guarantee. New tiles and forced moves can disrupt the arrangement, so watch for empty cells and avoid moves that trap unmatched high tiles. Think one or two merges ahead: a move that creates a large number but fills the board can be worse than a modest merge that preserves options. Practice in 2048 and compare your own results rather than expecting a fixed high score.
Akousa