For firmware, 2012 is actually very new. I don't think manufacturers change the versions too often, even on firmware updates - they usually maintain/patch the original firmware (the version that was used when the hardware launched). A motherboard released in 2012 probably has an older version of firmware than the leaked one.
Microsoft's requirements for Windows 8 certified firmware continued changing until surprisingly far through 2012. Code from early 2012 wouldn't satisfy it.
