I too wonder what kind of impact that this will have on re-packers and returns and picking a figure for its paint job.I do keep the occasional carded double figure, and would certainly miss the nostalgia of the bubble. In the case of a carded figure the packaging is part of the product, and it would be a shame to lose that. I love the look of a nice wall of carded figures, especially TVC figures. I've always been someone who appreciates nice looking packaging, even if I plan on opening the item.
That all being said...
The environmental impacts here outweigh any other concerns I have. We need to start cutting back on excess plastic production, particularly single use plastics even of the recyclable variety. I'd be interested to see if Hasbro has any sort of hard data on what the total percentages of figures that are kept card vs opened. My guess is that between kids, openers, and carded collectors, the vast majority of figures are still opened. Once that happens, all plastic bubbles, windows, and baggies are all ultimately just trash. Alone, this may not make a significant change to the amount of plastic production in the world, but every bit helps. (The irony that I am still buying plastic toys is not lost on me, but I at least feel like those are not going to be trash any time soon, even if they will all eventually end up there.)
I'm also not at all naive enough to think Hasbro is doing this purely out of concern for the environment, like Dave already said this is all about the cost savings for them, not that we will see any of that as consumers. But if the net result is less plastic in local dumps, rivers, and oceans I'm good with that.
This is ultimately a small trade off for me and isn't like to significantly alter how I collect. I am mostly opening things anyways. 95% of what I buy anymore comes from an online retailer, so I can't check for paint jobs or repacks anyways, which really lessens the impact of this change for me. I'm willing to wait and see how it all plays out before I decide on what it means for my collecting habits.
I think I've found to solution. Hasbro is going to forgo the current packaging and everything will be in white mailer boxes. Unfortunately there are no poly bags.
We aren't too far off with the trooper builder 4-packs and their parchment wrapping paper... I actually would not be entirely opposed to that for single releases.