Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's open gym challenge won't include level-scaling, and that sucks

gamesradar.com:

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet fans are expressing their disappointment at the revelation that the game's new approach to the series' gym challenge doesn't seem to scale with players' progress.

The recent Pokemon Presents showcase reaffirmed the fact that there's no set path by which you need to complete the game's three storylines. One of those arcs is the iconic gym challenge, within which you'll need to defeat all eight gym leaders to earn their badges. With Game Freak revealing that you'll be able to tackle the gyms in whichever order you like as you journey around the Paldea region, some players assumed that those gym leaders might scale alongside you, fielding more powerful teams if you encounter them later in the game than they might in the opening few hours.

Thing is, that's not just some random whim of the community. Lots of RPGs offer some degree of level-scaling, and Pokemon has actually provided an in-universe solution to this exact problem. In the first episode of the Pokemon Origins miniseries (opens in new tab) - which turns Pokemon Red and Blue into their own anime - protagonist Red arrives at the Pewter City gym to face leader Brock. When Brock learns that Red doesn't have any badges yet, he agrees to battle him with two specific Pokemon, rather than his entire team. It's just a brief, throwaway moment, but one that explains a lot about how Pokemon gyms might work outside the context of the games.

It's also a system that would likely have worked in the new games. Show up with a team of three first-stage 'mons, and a gym leader would face you down with a smaller, weaker team. Rock up with six fully-evolved beasts, and leaders would respond in kind.

Unfortunately, however, that doesn't appear to be the case.