hi we have a little game we made. Its not the best and is pretty bad. We want to release it so our friends can play and we can get feedback on it. Do i still need to contact the owners of unreal engine and even if its free do i need permission? Thanks!
No, you only need to contact Epic Games if you will be commercially releasing the game.
Edit: I am not seeing any solid info on whether or not you need to contact them, I just know that you need to contact if you will be making profits.
Edit 2: The title of the page for contacting them & releasing them is UNREAL ENGINE 4 COMMERCIAL GAME DEPLOYMENT GUIDELINES, you should be fine.
from the UE4 FAQ
someone else asked this before and one of the epic guys answered so I am going to see if I can find it and link it here.